


Kingdom Hearts: Vanitas Mix

by The_Unlimited



Series: Vanitas' journey through light [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Add in of a new character, Gen, Now the character added in is an asshole, OC Vanitas, Still don't know what the hell I'm doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2020-08-10 14:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 92,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20137048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited
Summary: Vanitas manages to team up with the new Keyblade bearer and his friends, and go on a journey to save the worlds from darkness. The only question is, how long can they go without trying to kill each other?





	1. When everything starts

A young, spikey haired, brunette boy wearing a red shirt and shorts, white and grey short sleeved jacket, fingerless gloves, yellow shoes, and crown necklace woke up on a beach. He sat up, stared out at the surf, and yawned. He laid back down, only to be staring up at the face of a redheaded girl that was wearing a tank top and skirt.

"Whoa!" the boy exclaimed as he sat back up in surprise.

He turned around so that he was on his knees, looking at her face to face. She laughed at him.

"Give me a break, Kairi," he said, chuckling.

"Sora, you lazy bum," Kairi said as she straightened back up. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."

"No!" Sora exclaimed, a little fearful. "This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't..."

He was interrupted as Kairi hit him on the head, which made a hollow sound.

"Ow!" Sora exclaimed, rubbing his hand where Kairi hit him.

"Are you still dreaming?" Kairi asked, again bending over to look at him face to face.

"It wasn't a dream!" Sora declared. Then he looked down, uncertainly. "Or was it? I don't know."

He paused for a second before adding, "What was that place? So bizarre."

"Yeah, sure," Kairi said sarcastically as she walked past him so she was standing right in front of where the waves came in.

Sora looked up again and watched her as she walked past him.

"Say, Kairi," he started. "What was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."

"I've told you before," Kairi said, looking out at the ocean. "I don't remember."

"Nothing at all?" Sora asked.

"Nothing," Kairi confirmed.

"You ever wanna go back?" Sora asked as he continued to sit on the beach.

Kairi thought about it for a second.

"Mm," she hummed. "Well, I'm happy here."

"Really..." Sora said.

"But you know," Kairi said. "I wouldn't mind going to see it."

"I'd like to see it, too," Sora said, raising up his knee so he could rest his arm on it. "Along with any other worlds out there! I wanna see 'em all!"

Kairi turned back around to look at him.

"So what're we waiting for?" she asked.

"Hey," a new voice interrupted. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"

They both turned to see their friend, Riku standing next to them. He wore a tank top that was yellow in front with a black X design across it, and black across the back. His blue pants billowed down until they reached his ankles, then they connected to his legs, going into his yellow and black shoes. His silver hair billowed back to his shoulders and in front of his eyes in spikes.

"So," Riku pointed out. "I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."

He threw the log up into the air towards Sora, who yelled as he tried to catch it. Kairi giggled as Riku walked up to face her with his hands on his hips.

"And you're just as lazy as he is!" Riku declared with a disappointed look on his face.

Kairi giggled. "So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together."

"I'll race you!" Kairi declared just as Riku sat down next to Sora.

"Huh?" Sora asked in disbelief.

"What?" Riku asked in equal disbelief. "Are you kidding?"

Kairi laughed again. "Ready? Go!"

A second later, Sora and Riku were on their feet again, running along the beach. Riku looked at Sora while they ran side by side, and Kairi laughed as she trailed behind them.

* * *

A scarred raven haired teenager gasped awake in his bed. He pushed aside the blanket and stood up, wearing a pair of jeans, but no shirt, so his tattoos were visible along his muscled arms and torso. He walked over to the board where he kept all his notes, and wrote down something new before he added it to the board with a thumb tack. His door suddenly opened, and a brown haired man looked in at him.

"What now?" the brunette man asked him.

"The kid I've been having visions of in my dreams," the ravenette announced in his new deeper voice. "He did a Dive Into the Heart, to his own Station of Awakening. He mistook it for a dream, but really, his powers are just starting to manifest. Pretty soon, he'll have his Keyblade."

"How sure are you," the brunette man asked as he walked over to the board. "That this kid will be able to use a Keyblade. After all..."

The brunette man looked to the very perfect drawing of Sora.

"He's only a boy," the brunette man said.

The ravenette looked up at his counterpart.

"I was younger than him when I had a Keyblade, Leon," Vanitas told him. "Like it or not, the fate of all the worlds rests on this little son of a bitch's shoulders. And I need to find him, because he should be able to help me."

Vanitas then wrote down another note and attached it to the board with a thumb tack. This one read _Destiny Islands_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The start of it all. Don't worry, Vanitas will be going to the Islands to help Sora, not hurt him. The whole point of him being here is helping along on the journey and eventually becoming friends with them, even if he'll be a dick at the beginning. Remember, he's spent nine years on a vengeful rampage, so it'll take a while before he calms down and becomes a rational human being again. It'll also take a while before all his memories come back. Bits and pieces will come back along the way, but he won't get back all of his memories until way down the line. Oh, and something I'm really excited about, it's during this storyline that the crossover series of this one and the Avengers starts. Once I get to the right chapter, I'm gonna start another story that adds Sora and Vanitas into the first Avengers movie. Plus, I'll try to either add a link showing a drawing of Vanitas and his tattoos, or just describe them in a different chapter. It'll probably be the latter


	2. Time to leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Sora and Kairi have good times on the dock, Vanitas prepares to leave

After a day of collecting rations for the raft, and, in Sora's case, having an encounter with a weird cloaked guy in the Secret Place, Sora and Kairi sat down together on the dock where they kept the boats they needed to row back home. They watched the sunset together.

"You know," Kairi told Sora. "Riku has changed."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked her.

"Well..." she said, uncertainly. She then hummed, thinking.

"You okay?" Sora asked her.

"Sora," she then told him, excited. "Let's take the raft and go, just the two of us!"

"Huh?" Sora asked her, confused.

Kairi laughed, "Just kidding."

"What's gotten into you?" Sora asked, also laughing. "You're the one that's changed, Kairi."

"Maybe," Kairi admitted.

"You know," she then started. "I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go, or what I see, I know I can always come back here. Right?"

She looked over at Sora as she asked it.

"Yeah, of course!" Sora declared.

"That's good," Kairi said as she looked back at the sunset. "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh?" he asked, watching her as she then stood up on the dock.

"I just can't wait," she said as they watched the sunset. "Once we set sail. It'll be great."

* * *

Vanitas was packing all his taller weapons in his sling, and his smaller weapons on his belt. His handguns were in their holsters, and his knives were in their sheaves on the belt he was gonna wear, one gun was tucked into his pants at the small of his back, and one extra knife was stitched in to fit on the inside of his jacket. Wearing a tank top and jeans, he slipped on his jacket. The hoodie was red with X's along it, one across the back, one on each side of the zipper, and two on the sleeves, one in front of the elbow, and one behind it. He zipped up his jacket, and put the sling on over his shoulders.

"You're completely sure this kid is the right one?" Leon asked him one more time.

"Yeah," a brunette woman wearing a pink outfit asked. "We want to be absolutely sure before we travel all willy nilly."

"I know it's him, guys," Vanitas said as he slung the belt along his waist. "Besides, Aerith, once the King's soldiers get here, it'll be your job to fill them in while Leon, Yuffie, and I do it with the kid."

"Hey, why so down all the time, guys?" Yuffie asked, excited. "If he's right, then we should be getting our old home back soon. It'll be sweet!"

"I'm always right," Vanitas told her. "Remember the bell tower?"

Yuffie chuckled as Vanitas winked at her, even though little traces told him that it felt weird.

"Anyway," Leon then said. "You have the name and the location, but how do you plan on getting to the island?"

"Cid's been helping me build a ship," Vanitas told him. "I've got is parked outside the First District prepared for launch."

"You're all ready, then," Aerith observed.

"Yep," Vanitas said as he put a sandwich covered in tinfoil in his jacket pocket. "I could use some friends to come see me off, though."

With slight smiles on their faces, Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie followed Vanitas out of the apartment building they all lived in, out through the Second and First Districts, passing people along the way. All the people there had either lost their home worlds to the darkness, or just travelled there because they were curious. It was because of them that Vanitas was doing this in the first place. He might not have remembered much about his life before, but he knew he had to protect people from being harmed by the darkness. They were the reason why he had a Gummi Ship parked outside of town, ready to go find a teenage boy who was about to gain a Keyblade.

Vanitas walked up to the ship he had and opened the cockpit window. He jumped inside and worked the controls, closing the window again and getting ready to launch.

"Hey!" Leon called out from outside the ship. "Have you tested to see if it can fly?"

"Yeah," Vanitas yelled back to him. "I'm about to right now."

"Wait," Aerith called out. "Wha-"

She was interrupted when the ship's rockets engaged. Vanitas whooped out in excitement and flew it high into the air. Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith watched as the Gummi Ship disappeared into the sky.

"If he wasn't our friend," Leon said. "I'd bet 50 munny he doesn't come back."

"I'll take that bet," Yuffie said. "Even if he is our friend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm remembering a lot more these parts than I expected. I guess playing the game hundreds of times growing up gave me a better memory of it than I thought. Also, these shorter chapters will only last until we get to them going to the individual worlds. For those of you that preferred the longer chapters, they're not that far off


	3. The Islands Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora and Vanitas meet and fight heartless together

Sora laid on his bed, thinking about the upcoming trip that was planned soon with his friends. He looked around his room, remembering Kairi's words.

_I just can''t wait,_ he remembered her say. _Once we set sail. It'll be great._

Sora looked from the hanging toy pirate ship in his room to outside the window next to his bed. He was a little surprised to see that lightning was flaring near the island.

"A storm?" he asked before he sat up suddenly. "Oh, no, the raft!"

Sora climbed out his bedroom window and ran down to the beach where he and his friends kept the row boats they needed to get to the island. He got in his boat and rowed as fast as he could to the island. As he reached the docks, he looked up to see that a giant purple, black, and red orb had appeared over the island.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

He jumped onto the dock where he noticed two other row boats.

"Riku's boat," Sora said. "And Kairi's!"

A gust of wind drew Sora's attention to the part in front of the dock. He looked up to see Shadow heartless popping up from out of the ground. He gasped, recognizing them from his dream. Pulling out his wooden sword, Sora charged at the Shadows as they charged at him. He tried attacking them, but nothing happened. Luckily, he was smart and moved out of the way before they could hit him. He tried to attack them a few more times before he gave up and ran from them.

Running down the beach, Sora managed to dodge attacks from the Shadows. After a few seconds of running, he was able to spot Riku on the smaller bridge attached to the opposite end of the wooden bridge. Continuing to dodge the heartless, Sora jumped up onto the shack that connected to the other expanse of land nearby, this one connected to the wooden bridge. Ditching his wooden sword, Sora ran down the bridge towards his friend, who was looking away from him.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora asked as he reached the end of the bridge. "I thought she was with you."

Instead of answering, Riku looked up and said, cryptically, "The door has opened..."

"What?" Sora asked.

Riku turned to face him.

"The door has opened, Sora!" he explained. "Now we can go to the outside world!"

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, gesturing with his arms. "We gotta find Kairi!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku affirmed to Sora.

Sora looked on in surprise before Riku continued.

"Once we step through," he said, looking up at the dark orb. "We might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back."

"But this may be our only chance," Riku continued, more determined. "We can't let dear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

He then looked at Sora and held out his hand.

"Riku..." Sora said, uncertainly.

A black and purple circle appeared under Riku, with black smoke coming out of it. The smoke surrounded Riku and formed claws that he let grab at him. Sora ran in, but was separated from Riku by the smoke. Looking up, he reached out his hand for Riku's, who continued to look at him calmly as the claws grabbed at him up his torso and towards his shoulders. Sora reached out as far as he could, and reached out, missing Riku's hand. Sora then closed his eyes as the smoke completely enveloped the area, making it hard to move or see.

After a second of blackness, light started to shine, which grew brighter until it flashed, getting rid of the darkness.

Once the light faded, Sora stumbled a bit, adjusting from the sensation. Once he had straightened himself back up, and could see again, he saw that Riku had disappeared, which was curious. Even more curiously, he was suddenly holding a giant key like sword in his right hand. The handle had a black grip and a golden hand guard. The blade and the keychain at the bottom of the handle were silver, with a little part of blue between the blade and the guard.

Sora looked down at the weapon in his hand curiously, as he didn't understand what it was.

_Keyblade_, he suddenly heard the voice from his dream in his head. _Keyblade._

A sudden noise on the bridge made Sora turn around. He was suddenly shocked to see a raven haired boy that looked exactly like him pointing a gun at him!

"Get down!" the boy exclaimed in a really deep voice.

Understandably, Sora listened and ducked down. Just in time, too, as a Shadow had tried lunging at him from behind. The raven haired boy shot the heartless with his handgun, and it disintegrated before it hit the ground.

Sora straightened up and observed his new companion. He wore a red jacket with lots of X's along the fabric, jeans, and white and black sneakers. Although they looked alike, the raven haired boy's eyes were golden, and he had a scar going up the right side of his face. He held a brown sling along his shoulder that contained a couple of weapons, while some other weapons were attached to a belt he was wearing. On his left hand was a tattoo with the letters FOB and a line over them.

He and Sora regarded each other for a second before more Shadow heartless appeared. The raven haired boy ran forward, and he and Sora stood back to back, ready. He was holding up his handgun while Sora stood in a battle stance with his Keyblade.

"Who are you?" Sora asked, looking at the heartless.

"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas answered. "I've been sent here to help you."

"Okay?" Sora nodded.

This caused Vanitas to look at Sora, curiously.

"Really?" Vanitas asked. "You're gonna believe that without an explanation?"

"I'm very trusting," Sora told him.

"Wow," Vanitas said, turning back to face the heartless. He then mumbled, "That won't get annoying at all."

Sora then rushed in and started attacking the Shadows with combos. Now that he had the Keyblade, he could actually do damage to them. Vanitas, meanwhile shot them one at a time with his handgun, often aiming for their heads. At one point, he got on the ground and kicked one's legs out from under it, knocking it on its back. He then grabbed another Shadow and pushed it down against the other one. Pressing the two heartless together, Vanitas pointed his gun at the one's head, and shot both of them at once.

Vanitas stood back up and turned towards Sora, who had finished off his portion of the heartless as well, and was walking towards him, curiously.

"What exactly are you doing here?" Sora asked.

"I was sent here by the Order of the Light," Vanitas told him. "To find the bearer of the Keyblade and help them on their journey."

"I'm not on a journey," Sora told him as he dismissed the Keyblade. "I've gotta find my friends!"

He then ran past Vanitas and down the wooden bridge.

"Hey!" Vanitas called out as he yelled after Sora. "You're gonna get my help whether you like it or not!"

Sora then ran across the island towards the entrance to the Secret Place, Vanitas following him the whole time. A regal looking doorway had appeared in front of the entrance to the Secret Place, so Sora figured it would be beneficial to check it out. Going through the door and crouching under the tree root, Sora ran through the cramped hallways towards the actual Secret Place. Vanitas reluctantly followed him through the doorway and under the tree, towards the Secret Place.

Running into the Secret Place, Sora was surprised and relieved to find Kairi standing there. Vanitas, in turn, was surprised to see her standing in front of a door that was definitely out of place.

"Kairi!" Sora called out to her.

She turned to look at Sora, and Vanitas couldn't help but think that she looked a little familiar. He also couldn't help but notice she didn't look too well.

"Sora..." Kairi said softly, confirming to Vanitas that she needed help.

She reached out her hand towards Sora, but then the door suddenly burst open, spewing out black smoke and wind. The wind was so powerful that Sora and Vanitas both had to hold their arms together to stop from flying away.

Kairi wasn't so lucky. The wind pushed her forward like a rag doll, towards Sora. He looked up and opened his arms to try to catch her. But as he tried to, she suddenly vanished.

"What the hell?" Vanitas asked as Sora looked on in confusion.

Unfortunately, they had both lowered their arms, so the wind picked them up, taking them out of the Secret Place.

When they landed, they both looked up and gasped in surprise.

They were on their hands and knees on a piece of the island, right above the giant ball of darkness. Powerful winds flew around the small expanse, carrying pieces of land and wood. After a second of staring, they quickly realized they weren't alone.

Turning around and standing up, both Sora and Vanitas came face to face with a giant, muscled shadow heatless with giant arms, weird feet, and tentacles around its head. In the center, there was a hole shaped like a heart, and wings were on its back. They both gasped, recognizing it from their respective dreams.

"The Darkside," Vanitas said, remembering its name.

Sora quickly summoned his Keyblade, and Vanitas reached into his sling and pulled out a shotgun.

"12 gauge, bitch," Vanitas said to the Darkside as he pumped his shotgun.

The Darkside leaned forward on its knees and spread its arms, dark energy appearing in the center of the heart shaped hole. Sora ran towards its right hand and started attacking it with combos as it shot orbs of energy from its chest. Luckily, Sora was attacking it in a way that made it so the orbs missed him.

Vanitas, meanwhile, had decided to go all out and shoot at its head with his shotgun. He managed to get in plenty of shots while dodging the blasts. However, as shotgun shells lost power the longer they flew in the air, he had started to think he should have grabbed a rifle.

Both Sora and Vanitas were interrupted from their assaults when dark orbs suddenly hit them. One hit Sora in the back while he was in the air, and one hit Vanitas in the side as he pumped his shotgun again.

Quickly recovering from the attack, they watched as the heartless raised its arms up and got off its knees. It then gestured with its fist, before pulling it back as it gained energy. The Darkside then punched the ground, causing a circle of darkness to appear on the ground around it.

Vanitas and Sora took advantage of this.

Putting his shotgun back in the sling and pulling back out a machete, Vanitas followed Sora as he jumped up the Darkside's arm as it was still on the ground. Sora jumped up on its arm and attacked at its head with combos. Vanitas appeared next to Sora and hacked at the Darkside's head with his machete, not cutting anything, but still causing damage.

After a few seconds of attacking it, a blue flare of lightning flared from the monsters head, signifying that it was done. Sora and Vanitas jumped off of its arm as the winds picked up.

The wind got stronger and stronger, picking up remains of the island, and dragging them into the orb of darkness. The winds then picked up the Darkside, also pulling it into the darkness. Sora and Vanitas both desperately held on to a part of wood that was wedged into the ground, not wanting to get sucked into the darkness. Unfortunately, their grips weren't strong enough, and they gave out, sending the two up into the orb.

"Gah!" Sora exclaimed as they were dragged up.

"Fuck!" Vanitas also exclaimed, somehow nonchalantly.

The two lost consciousness as they flew up into the darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the Order of Light thing is a lie. I have him say that because he's pretty sure they won't let him go with them without a good reason. He figures that's a good reason. After they become friends is when he reveals the truth


	4. Introductions and explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora and Vanitas reach Traverse Town and meet some people

Goofy stopped walking and looked up curiously. This action annoyed Donald a bit before he followed Goofy's gaze up into the sky. They both exclaimed as Goofy pointed up.

"Look," he exclaimed. "A star's going out!"

They both watched as a star in the sky glowed brighter before it disappeared.

"Come on," Donald told Goofy. "Let's hurry."

They then started walking through the First District with Pluto, who had started to run ahead of them.

"Where's that key?" Donald asked, annoyed, with his arms crossed.

"Hey, ya know," Goofy said, looking down at him. "Maybe we ought to go find Leon."

They walked up a staircase in front of a shop. Pluto had gone down the left side, sniffing out for something, while Donald walked down the right side. Goofy had stopped, and looked down the side Pluto had gone.

"Uh, Donald," Goofy tried saying, pointing towards the dog. "Ya know, I betcha that..."

"Aw, what do you know, you big palooka?" Donald asked, looking over his shoulder before continuing to walk down the road.

"What do I know?" Goofy asked, looking down the road Pluto had gone.

"Hmmm... Come on, Pluto," he called out before he followed Donald.

Pluto, meanwhile, had sniffed his way down the alleyway and found the unconscious forms of Sora and Vanitas laying against the wall behind some crates and barrels. Pluto sniffed at them both before he licked each of them in the face, waking them both up. Sora exclaimed as he looked around, while Vanitas looked annoyed at being woken up.

"What a dream..." Sora muttered as he rested back against the wall.

"Five more minutes..." Vanitas muttered closing his eyes again.

Pluto then leaped in and smacked them both with his paws, waking them up completely.

"This isn't a dream!" Sora exclaimed.

"Fuck, man!" Vanitas also exclaimed.

Both boys slowly stood up and took in their surroundings.

"Where am I?" Sora asked. "Oh, boy."

"Huh," Vanitas said. "I'm back earlier than I thought."

Sora then crouched down to look at Pluto.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked the dog.

Instead of answering, Pluto lifted up an ear then ran back down the alleyway.

"Hey..." Sora called, reaching out his hand.

"Don't worry," Vanitas told him. "I know my way around here.

Vanitas walked out of the alleyway with Sora right behind him. They walked out in front of the shop, facing the First District.

"This is totally weird..." Sora muttered to himself. "I'm in another world!"

He turned to Vanitas.

"Who exactly are you?" he asked.

"My name's Vanitas," Vanitas told him. "My friends call me V, but you will call me Vanitas. Like I said on the island, the Order of Light sent me to help you on your journey because you have the Keyblade."

The Keyblade then appeared in Sora's hand.

"This?" Sora asked. "Well I'm not on a journey. I have to look for my friends."

He dismissed the Keyblade and walked toward the shop.

"Well like it or not, and trust me, I don't," Vanitas told Sora as he followed him. "I have to help you with that, too."

They walked into the Accessory shop to see a blonde man dressed like a mechanic standing behind the counter.

"Hey, there," he called out. "How can I..."

He stopped when he saw it was Vanitas with a kid that looked a lot like him.

"Oh, hey, V," he told him. "Why does this kid look like you?"

"No idea, Cid," Vanitas said as he leaned down on the counter.

"I'm not a kid!" Sora exclaimed. "And the name's Sora!"

"Doesn't change the fact that we look alike," Vanitas pointed out.

Sora paused for a bit before he paused.

"Yeah, that's true," he said, surprisingly nonchalant.

"Let's get back to the point," Cid said. "Why the long face, Sora? You lost or somethin'?"

"No!" Sora exclaimed. "Well, maybe. Where are we?"

"Huh?" Cid asked.

"Cid," Vanitas said. "His island fell to the darkness."

Cid understood so he and Vanitas explained to Sora that he was on the new world of Traverse Town.

"Traverse Town..." Sora said before he looked at Cid. "So, gramps, is this really another world?"

"Don't call me gramps!" Cid exclaimed. "The name's Cid!"

He calmed down a bit before he continued.

"Anyway..." Cid continued. "Not sure entirely what you're talkin' about, but this sure ain't your island."

"Hmm," Sora said. "Guess I'd better start looking for Riku and Kairi."

"Well," Vanitas said, standing back up straight and readjusting his belt. "Guess I know what I'm doing."

"Well," Cid responded. "Good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you run into trouble, you come to me. I'll look out for you."

Vanitas followed Sora as he walked out the shop.

"So," Sora said as they walked around the shop in the First District. "You wanna tell me a bit about why you're helping me?"

Vanitas thought for a second.

"No," he said. "I don't think I will."

"Really?" Sora asked, skeptically as they walked to a large set of double doors. "Then why don't I just go alone without any help from you?"

"Because, secretly," Vanitas told him. "You're scared that you're in another world and you can't find your friends. And you're grateful that you have someone here to help."

Sora looked at Vanitas as he held a door open.

"You're good at that," he said as they walked through the doors.

"I know," Vanitas said.

"What about the scar?" Sora asked, suddenly as they walked into the Second District.

"You're not hearing that story," Vanitas said with finality.

Before Sora could say anything else, they were interrupted when a man stumbled on the ground in front of them. The man looked on in terror as a bright light erupted from his chest, and a heart shaped crystal rose out. The man disappeared as the heart flew into a small orb of darkness. The orb then transformed into a soldier like heartless that disappeared in a flash. Sora and Vanitas ran forwards and were suddenly surrounded by Shadows.

"It's those creatures from the island!" Sora exclaimed as he stood in his battle stance holding his Keyblade.

"They're called heartless!" Vanitas told him as he pulled out a sledgehammer from his sling.

Sora attacked the Shadows with combos while Vanitas knocked them around with his sledgehammer. Sora managed to take them out easily with his combo finishers while Vanitas had to either knock them into walls or crush them with his sledgehammer.

Once all of the Shadows were gone, the two of them jumped off the ledge so they were in the main part of the Second District, and then walked through a doorway into the Alleyway. Doing this, they both missed it as Donald and Goofy walked through the doors of the hotel above them.

"Leeooon!" Donald called out. "Mister Leon?"

"Where are you?" Goofy called out as well.

This went on for a while.

Sora and Vanitas walked into a house, and Donald and Goofy walked onto the balcony of a Gizmo shop. Later on, Sora and Vanitas walked into that same Gizmo shop, while Donald and Goofy left another part of the hotel. Even later on, Sora and Vanitas walked into the hotel, and Donald and Goofy walked out of the doorway from the First District.

Eventually, Sora and Vanitas made their way back to the Accessory Shop with Cid. Sora walked out while Vanitas stayed back to talk with Cid for a second.

"Why are you helping him out?" Cid asked.

"He was chosen by the Keyblade," Vanitas told him.

Cid looked at the doorway in disbelief.

"That runt?" he asked.

"Pal," Vanitas said. "I was younger and smaller than him when my Keyblade chose me. I learned the hard way that age and height don't mean jack shit. It's all about skill."

Cid looked at him, now impressed.

"He doesn't have much skill at the moment," Vanitas admitted. "But he'll get there in time. Besides..."

Vanitas looked back at the door then at Cid again.

"He's the only Keyblade wielder I've seen in nine years," he told the older man. "He's the only hope I have. Maybe the only hope we all have."

"And that," Cid pointed out. "Is a very scary thought."

Vanitas walked out the shop back into the First District to see that Sora was now standing in the main area with... Leon?

Leon was crouched down with his Gunblade in his hands while Sora stood in his battle stance with his Keyblade drawn. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

Vanitas walked down the stairs while Leon got on one knee. Sora stood up straight, looking tired.

"Now..." he started, breathless. "You're... gonna... you're gonna..."

Sora then passed out and fell on his back. Vanitas stood next to Leon as his friend stood back up.

"What the hell, Leon?" Vanitas asked, calmly.

"Aw, you're slipping, Leon," Yuffie said from behind him. "And you owe me 50 munny."

"I went easy on him," Leon said.

Yuffie smiled.

"Sure you did," Vanitas said, sarcastically. "And I can get drunk."

"Looks like things are worse than we thought," Leon said. "A lot worse."

"Hey," Vanitas exclaimed, offended. "He just needs some improvement."

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were walking through the Alleyway.

"Gawrsh," Goofy said, scared. "There's nobody here. Sure is spooky!"

"Aw, phooey," Donald exclaimed. "I'm not scared."

Someone then tapped on his shoulder from behind. This made him freeze before he jumped up onto Goofy's back, screaming his head off.

"Excuse me," a soft voice said. "Did the king send you?"

Donald managed to stop shaking so he and Goofy could turn around to see Aerith behind them.

* * *

"Come on, lazy bum. Wake up."

Sora slowly stirred awake at the sound. He was sitting on a bed and looked up to see Kairi standing over him, her hands on her hips.

"You okay?" she asked.

"I guess..." Sora said, uncertainly.

"Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade," Kairi told him. "But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade."

Sora looked up at Kairi.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," he told her.

"Kairi?" she asked. "Who are you talking about?"

Her voice then changed.

"I'm the great ninja Yuffie," she said before she smiled.

Sora's vision changed so now he was seeing Yuffie bent down to look at him, instead of Kairi standing up straight. Vanitas stood behind her, looking at Sora curiously.

"How hard did you hit your head?" Vanitas asked him.

"I think you might have overdone it, Squall," Yuffie called out, turning to look at the nearby door.

Leon walked through it.

"That's Leon," he corrected her.

Sora looked over to Leon to see his Keyblade leaning against the door frame.

"The Keyblade..." he said.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "The very thing I've been trying to explain to you the whole time we've been here."

"Yeah," Yuffie agreed, walking towards Leon. "We had to get away from you to shake off those creatures." She turned to look at Sora. "It turns out, that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," Leon said, crossing his arms. "But it won't work for long."

"This is really something I never knew about the Keyblade," Vanitas said, crossing his own arms.

"Well," Yuffie said, looking at him. "The amnesia probably didn't help."

Vanitas nodded in agreement.

Leon picked up the Keyblade with his left hand as he continued to talk.

"Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one."

He then gestured with the Keyblade before it disappeared from his hand with a flash of light. Sora gasped as it appeared in his hand in a similar flash of light.

"Well," Leon said as he walked towards Sora. "I suppose beggars can't be choosers."

"Dick," Vanitas whispered to Yuffie, who chuckled in response.

"Why don't you start making sense!" Sora exclaimed angrily to Leon. "What's going on here?"

In a nearby room, Aerith was having a similar talk with Donald and Goofy.

"Okay," she started. "You know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle and this town, right?"

"Yeah," Donald nodded.

"But they're supposed to be a secret," Goofy said with his hands over his mouth.

"They've been secret," Aerith agreed. "Which is why they've never been connected. Until now."

"When the heartless came," she closed her eyes. "Everything changed."

"The Heartless?" Sora asked Leon in the other room.

"The ones who attacked you," Yuffie pointed out, sitting next to him on the bed. "You remember?"

"Pretty hard to forget," Vanitas said, sitting on the table nearby.

"Those without hearts," Leon continued.

"The darkness in people's hearts," Yuffie said. "That's what attracts them."

"And there is darkness," Leon said. "Within every heart."

"The only though scarier then you being our only hope," Vanitas commented, looking at Sora.

"Hey," Yuffie said suddenly, looking at Sora. "Have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

"Ansem?" Goofy asked in the next room.

"He was studying the heartless," Aerith said. "According to a friend of mine, he recorded his findings with his apprentice in a very detailed report."

"Gawrsh," Goofy said. "Uh, can we see it?"

Donald, meanwhile, had his arms crossed.

"It's pages are scattered everywhere," Aerith said, shaking her head with her eyes closed.

"Scattered?" Donald asked.

"To many worlds," Aerith said.

"Cause I was an idiot," Vanitas told Sora in the other room. "And dropped them when we were escaping."

"Oh," Goofy realized in the other room. "Then maybe the king went to find 'em."

Donald nodded in agreement.

"Yes," Aerith agreed. "Those were my thoughts exactly."

"We've gotta find him quick!" Goofy declared,

"Wait!" Donald yelled. "First we need that 'key'!"

"That's right," Aerith agreed. "The Keyblade."

"So," Sora said in the other room as he held out the Keyblade. "This is the key?"

"Exactly!" Yuffie agreed, nodding at Sora.

"You got it," Vanitas told him.

"The heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon continued as he walked over to the door. "That's why they'll keep coming after you, no matter what."

"The whole try to overwhelm 'em solution," Vanitas commented. "Don't worry; it almost never works."

"Well," Sora said. "I didn't ask for this."

"The Keyblade chooses its master," Yuffie told him. "And it chose you."

"It's a Destiny thing," Vanitas told him.

"So tough luck," Leon waved at Sora with his arm before leaning against the door.

"How did all this happen?" Sora asked. "I remember being in my room..."

He stood up, gasping.

"Wait a minute!" Sora exclaimed. "What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi!"

"Your home," Vanitas begrudgingly told him. "Was lost to the darkness. Your friends disappeared somewhere that we don't know where to find them. The only way to find them is just to look."

He stoop up off the table.

"And I know how much someone is willing to look for the people they miss," Vanitas said. "So I'm willing to help you find them."

Sora nodded his thanks.

"The Keyblade can also open any lock anywhere," Vanitas told him as they walked towards Leon. "So that should come in handy."

Sora stared on in consideration at that as they reached Leon.

"Sooner or later, the heartless will find you," Leon told Sora. "You'd best prepare yourself."

"Prepare myself?" Sora asked.

"To fight for your life," Vanitas answered. "Like on the island."

"Are you ready?" Leon asked.

Sora thought for a second before he answered.

"I'm ready!" he said with a nod.

Sora summoned his Keyblade while Vanitas pulled out a spear from his sling. Leon and Vanitas then turned to Yuffie.

"Yuffie," Leon said. "Let's go join Aerith."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "She should be there by now with the other visitors."

"Leon! V!" Yuffie suddenly exclaimed, pointing in a nearby spot.

A Soldier heartless had suddenly appeared where she was pointing.

"Yuffie," Vanitas exclaimed as he and Leon rushed forward. "Go!"

Yuffie ran out the door into the room Aerith was in while Leon took out his Gunblade. Sora stood in a battle stance while Leon swung his blade.

"Sora," Leon told him. "Let's go!"

He swung at the heartless, knocking it through the window. He jumped out the window into the Alleyway, followed by Sora and Vanitas.

"You're so not getting your security deposit back on that place," Vanitas told Leon as they landed next to him.

Leon ignored him.

"Don't bother with the small fry," Leon told Sora as multiple Soldiers stood around them. "Find the leader! Let's go!"

He turned around and started running down the street, occasionally swiping at Soldiers.

"What does that mean?" Sora asked.

"It means," Vanitas said as he stabbed his spear into a Soldier. "That when there are this many heartless around, there's usually a Boss somewhere. We gotta find it and destroy it."

He then lifted the heartless up in the air by his spear and slammed it into the ground. The force of it caused the heartless to be destroyed.

Sora and Vantias ran through the Alleyway and the Second District, taking out heartless along the way, looking for the boss. They ran through the doors to the Third District and ran down a nearby staircase, not noticing Goofy standing on a balcony above them. After looking over it briefly, he turned back to both ends to see Soldier heartless appearing. He lifted up his shield.

"Gawrsh," he said. "Are these the heartless guys?"

"Let's go get 'em, Goofy!" Donald said, determined, as he swung his staff.

A blast then sent Donald and Goofy flying into the air, screaming as they fell to the ground. Vanitas and Sora looked up at the screaming pair, and exclaimed as they tried to get out of the way in time. They failed, and Donald and Goofy landed on them.

"Aw, fuck," Vanitas exclaimed as Donald and Goofy exclaimed woozily on top of him and Sora.

Once the stars had disappeared from above their heads, they looked up to see the Keyblade in Sora's hand.

"The Key!" they exclaimed.

"Donald?" Vanitas exclaimed, having a slight headache before remembering the two. "Goofy?"

The ground shaking drew all of their attention. They looked up in time to see pillars rising up out of the ground, blocking the exits. Soldiers appeared on top of the pillars, and around the area. The four of them quickly got up and stood in battle stances, ready to fight.

Donald shot a blast of fire from his staff, taking out a Soldier in one go. Sora slid into an attack against one, and started attacking it with a combo, destroying it with the finishing attack. Vanitas hit one Soldier with the lower part of his spear before spinning it around and stabbing it in its head with the sharp part. Goofy rushed in and started hitting a couple of Soldiers with his shield. Vanitas pulled out one of his handguns and shot one Soldier before it could slash at Goofy's back. Donald, in turn, blasted the remaining Soldier with fire before it could hit Sora.

The little group stood in silence for a second, catching their breath before they looked up suddenly.

An armor torso, armor hands, and armor feet fell to the ground and started assembling themselves into a body before they fell to the ground, landing on the feet. An armor head then fell onto the torso, completing the transformation. Something told Vanitas that this heartless was called Guard Armor.

He pulled out his assault rifle while the others stood in their battle stances with their respective weapons.

The heartless walked forwards, and both Donald and Sora jumped up to attack the hands, right before they started spinning around in an attack. Sora managed to get out of the way, but they hit Donald directly. Goofy and Vanitas stood back for a second, Goofy blocking and Vanitas firing his rifle at the Heartless's head. Goofy then ran under the torso and started whacking the legs with his shield while Sora ran in an arc around the heartless.

The heartless's hands then floated away from the torso, so Vanitas shot at them with his rifle while Donald shot fire at the feet. The torso and the feet suddenly rose into the air, before they slammed into the ground, attacking Sora. It knocked Sora aside, who exclaimed in pain.

"Hey!" Vanitas yelled before continuing to shoot at the hands.

Sora then jumped up and attacked the hands with his Keyblade in a combo, destroying one of them. In retaliation, the torso floated up and brought the feet up again, trying for another attack. Sora jumped up instead and continued to attack at the hand as it tried its spin attack again. He landed on the ground, and ran in an arc again as the hand flew back to the torso. Donald and Goofy ran in to attack the feet and the torso, getting in some damage.

Sora ran back in and started attacking the remaining hand with an aerial combo while the torso detached from the hands and feet. With Sora's combos and Vanitas's shooting, they were able to take out the hand. The feet, meanwhile, had started stomping around, hurting Donald and Goofy. Vanitas and Sora ran in and joined the two in attacking the feet, Sora with combos, and Vanitas alternating with either shooting them, or using the rifle as a club. Working together, they managed to destroy both feet in no time flat.

The group then turned their attention to the torso while Vanitas reloaded his assault rifle. The torso and head started spinning around, occasionally flying away from each other. Sora would jump up to attack it with combos, while Vanitas would shoot at its head with his gun. Donald would alternately shoot fire at it or jump up to whack it with his staff. When it got low enough, Goofy would run in to attack it with his shield.

Unfortunately, the heartless wasn't gonna give up that easily. It started to spin around in an attack, trying to hurt them. It succeeded, but the little group managed to press on with their attack and finish off the heartless.

The torso and head then floated up and started shaking for a while, before the head fell from the torso onto the ground. Light erupted from the torso neck, and a heart shaped crystal flew out. Oncw the heart was gone, the remains of the heartless disappeared.

"So," Sora started. "You were looking for me?"

Donald and Goofy both nodded.

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon said behind Sora. Yuffie nodded in agreement.

"Hey," Goofy said. "Why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Sora looked down, sadly.

"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi," he said.

"Of course," Donald assured him.

Sora looked up, hopeful.

Donald and Goofy then crouched together, and Vanitas was thankful he had good ears.

"Are ya sure," Goofy whispered to Donald.

"Who knows?" Donald whispered back. "But we need him to come with us, to help us find the King."

"That," Vanitas pointed out, loudly. "And we're kind of the only hope for all the remaining worlds."

Donald looked at him.

"Who said you were coming?" he asked Vanitas.

"Look pal," Vanitas told him. "I was sent here by the Order of Light themselves to help this kid on his journey. So unless you wanna take it up with them, I'm coming along."

Donald thought about this for a second before he relented.

"Sora," Leon told Sora. "Go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."

Sora was looking down, sadly.

"Yeah, I guess," he said.

"Your enthusiasm fucking astonishes me," Vanitas said, sarcastically.

"But you can't come along looking like that," Donald said, making Goofy look at him confused. "Understand?"

"No frowning..."

Donald imitated a frown.

"No sad face..."

Donald imitated a sad face.

"Okay?" he asked.

Goofy leaned down to put his face next to Donald's.

"Yeah," he said. "You gotta look funny, like us!"

He laughed while Donald pushed his head away from his.

"This boat runs on happy faces," Donald finished.

"Happy?" Sora asked.

He stayed silent for a second while the others looked at him, Donald and Goofy expectantly, Vanitas curiously. Sora then leaned forward and exclaimed while doing a weird smile at them. He exclaimed for a few seconds before he stopped and looked at Donald and Goofy, confused. The two burst out laughing.

"That's one funny face!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Okay, why not?" Sora asked after they finished laughing. "I'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck," Donald said as he held out his hand.

"Name's Goofy," Goofy said as he held out his hand.

"Vanitas," Vanitas said as he held out his hand.

"I'm Sora," Sora said as he followed their example and held out his hand.

"All for one, and one for all," Goofy laughed as they patted their hands on top of each other.

Once they pulled their hands back, Vanitas looked over to Leon and Yuffie who were gesturing for him to come over. While Sora, Donald, and Goofy discussed things, Vanitas walked over to them.

"Well, it didn't take you too much to convince them to let you go with," Leon whispered to him.

"Yeah," Yuffie whispered. "I didn't even know there _was_ and Order of the Light."

"There isn't," Vanitas whispered back. "That's bullshit."

"What?" Leon asked. "Why are you lying to them."

"They're not gonna trust me to go with them," Vanitas explained. "Without good reason."

"Oh, come on," Yuffie said. "We trust you."

"Because you knew me before I lost my memories and became vengeful," Vanitas pointed out. "If you met the me today ten years ago instead of me then, would you still trust me?"

Leon and Yuffie both thought about it before a second before they admitted, "No."

"Exactly," Vanitas said. "I have to go with them so they can help me find Xehanort, and I can kill him."

"Don't you think you're taking this vengeance thing a little too far?" Yuffie asked. "It's almost all you do."

"It's all I can do," Vanitas declared. "I need to find Xehanort and kill him. It's the only way I can be happy again."

"If you're sure," Leon said.

They regrouped in the First District, with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith seeing off Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy.

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you," Leon told Sora with his arms crossed. "We don't know how far the heartless have spread."

"Check out the shops around here," Yuffie added. "They've got some pretty neat stuff!"

"This is from all of us," Aerith said as she handed Sora a little bag with 500 munny in it. "Spend it as you see fit."

"And this is from Leon," she added as she handed Vanitas an Elixer. Vanitas couldn't help but notice how Leon looked away with his eyes closed as Aerith gave over the Elixer.

"Good luck!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"I hope you find your friends," Aerith said.

Leon uncrossed his arms and looked at Sora.

"Look out for each other," he told Sora. "Keep your spirits up."

As the three of them walked off, Vanitas stopped Yuffie and leaned in to whisper to her.

"Hey," he whispered. "Before I leave, is there any chance we can continue what we started that one night?"

Yuffie giggled.

"Come back in one piece and we'll find out," Yuffie whispered back before she left.

"Tease," Vanitas muttered.

The two of them still sometimes wondered if it felt weird, when they had moments like that.

Vanitas walked back over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"The Gummi ship is outside that gate," Donald said, gesturing to the gate at the front of the First District.

"The what?" Sora asked.

"That's our ship," Donald explained.

"Wait 'till you see it!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Hold on," Donald said. "Sora, this is for you."

Sora held out his hand and Donald sent a little bit of magic into him with his staff.

"Now you can use magic, too," Donald explained.

"Okay, is that it?" Sora asked. "Let's get going!"

"Not 'til we're ready!" both Vanitas and Donald exclaimed.

The two of them looked at each other, curiously. They missed it as their cricket friend, Jiminy talked about how he was gonna have to keep track of things in his journal. He then climbed into Sora's jacket hood, making Vanitas think that he was setting up an apartment in there.

The group then walked over to the doorway.

"So you gonna tell us a bit about you now?" Sora asked.

"Are you gonna tell me why you don't know how to do up a belt?" Vanitas asked.

Sora then looked down at his belt then back at Vanitas.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.

"Exactly," Vanitas said.

They walked out the doors and towards the Gummi ship, ready to start their journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love having past Vanitas be proved wrong by current Vanitas


	5. Little explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While flying in the Gummi ship, Vanitas (begrudgingly) shares a bit

"That's pretty much how it works," Donald explained to Sora as they sat around the console of the Gummi Ship.

"The heartless ships sometimes give us trouble," Goofy added. "But never anything we can't handle.

Sora nodded.

"I already got an understanding," Vanitas admitted. "Cid's a pilot, so he showed me a bit. Hell, he even helped me build my own ship."

"Where is it, then?" Goofy asked. "The extra air support would come in handy."

"It kind of got left on Sora's island," he admitted again.

Sora and Goofy nodded in understanding while Donald looked like he was trying to hide a smirk.

"Hey, fuck you, man," Vanitas told Donald. "I've been through a lot."

"Like what?" Donald asked.

Vanitas paused for a second, and tried to find a way to talk out of it, but looked up to see Sora and Goofy looking at him expectantly. He sighed out.

"I lost my friends and my home," Vanitas told them. "Then when I thought things couldn't get worse, when I tried to make things get better, instead, life decided to fuck me over royally."

He pointed at the scar up his face.

"Then I got amnesia," Vanitas continued, leaning against the console. "And somehow I lost my life force. Now, on top of everything else..."

He pulled a flask out of his jacket pocket and drank the last few sips, sighing out when nothing happened.

"I can't even get drunk," he said, tossing the flask into a nearby chair.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were all looking at him, with a bit more sympathy.

"The Order of Light," Vanitas continued. "Might be made up of a bunch of old crackpots that lost their way, but they can probably get me my life force back. They decided that to have me follow your little ass around..."

He crossed his arms and looked at Sora.

"And help you on their journey," Vanitas finished.

"I guess they knew that we would be doing this even before we did," Sora said.

"Well, they're the 'Order of Light'," Donald pointed out. "Isn't it kind of their job to be on top of this stuff?"

"Maybe some millennia ago," Vanitas told them before looking at Donald and Goofy. "But now they're dumber than you guys."

Donald and Goofy looked offended before they thought about that for a second.

"That's pretty dumb," Goofy observed.

"What about the letters on your hand?" Sora asked, pointing at Vanitas' hand.

Vanitas looked at his hand then back at the others.

"This is a tattoo," Vanitas explained. "Sometimes people have ink put onto their skin to show off things they like. They use needles, though."

All three of his companions winced at that.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Sora asked.

"Lots," Vanitas admitted. "Thing is, it's also permanent, so you have to be sure that it's what you want."

"How many do ya have?" Goofy asked.

Vanitas took off his sling and put it into the same nearby chair, then unzipped his jacket and put it in the same chair. His tank top followed suit. The others looked on in fascination as he gestured to his arms and chest.

"This here," Vanitas said pointing to the star like mark on the left of his chest with circular designs. "Is a sign of the Bratva. A Russian mob that I managed to ally myself with on one world."

"What's a Russian?" Donald asked.

"What's a mob?" Sora asked.

"What's a Bratva?" Goofy asked.

"We'll come back to that," Vanitas said. He then gestured to what looked like fire on the part of his left forearm that was facing away from his body. "That's fire. The element that I have control of."

In his left hand, a small ball of fire appeared, and the others looked on in amazement.

"One of the powers I still have left," Vanitas said, extinguishing the fire.

"This one," he said, pointing to an X on his left tricep, again on the part facing away from his body. "This seams to be my symbol. I honestly don't know how, but that's it."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy smiled at that.

"This one here," Vanitas continued, pointing to his right tricep. On the part facing towards people was a lock containing fire around it. "Is to represent how we hold in our inner demons."

At that, his three companions nodded in understanding.

"Here," Vanitas said, gesturing to one right under where his forearm and tricep met. There was a heart that was half black and half white, with a black outline of a bat around it. "Is to represent how sometimes we have nice moments, and sometimes have dark moments."

"A lot of symbolism with these," Donald observed.

"Kind of the point of tattoos," Vanitas told him.

"This," he continued, pointing to a japanese symbol on his right forearm facing away from his body. "Is to show true to the japanese roots I have."

His companions looked at him un understanding and appreciation at that.

"This," Vanitas continued, gesturing to the lizard looking head on the right of his chest. "Is part of my pride and joy."

He turned around, showing to his friends the tattoo of the full body of a dragon. Wings went across his back, the body and tail went along his spine, the legs went halfway down the small of his back, and the arms went along his shoulder blades, the claws on its hands on his shoulders, near the other tattoos. Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared at the dragon tattoo with mixtures of surprise and amazement.

"This is a dragon," Vanitas told them, showing that the path of the neck went along his right shoulder, to the head on his chest. "Is an old fire dragon. One of my favorites that I really wanna tame one day."

"That's awesome!" Sora exclaimed.

After a second, though, Donald got a look on his face.

"How much did that hurt, though?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"Let's just say I had to sleep on my front for a week," Vanitas admitted.

"What about the letters on your hand?" Goofy asked, pointing at Vanitas' left hand.

"Oh," Vanitas said, grabbing his tank top with his right hand, then raised his left hand up to his face. "To represent my all time favorite band in the worlds: Fall Out Boy."

He put his tank top back on.

"Never heard of 'em," Sora admitted while he, Donald, and Goofy shook their heads.

"They're from a world called Earth," Vanitas told them. He then looked up in thought. "Or Earth 475? I don't know; there are a lot, and I'm from one of them."

"Well, now that those are out of the way," Donald said. looking at Vanitas more comfortably. "What about the weapons you carry? You seem to have a lot, and it'll be beneficial to know what all you have."

"You just wanna know everything about me, huh?" Vanitas asked, slipping his hoodie back on.

He picked up his sling and started pulling weapons out, gesturing with each one as he talked.

"I managed to find a spell book a while back that enchanted them so they can damage heartless," Vanitas started explaining. "I got lots. Hand to hand stuff, there's the baseball bat, good for bashing. The machete, favorite weapon to hockey masked killers all around. Katana, trusted weapon of samurai and ninja alike. A fire axe that I managed to steal when escaping a place, great for breaking down doors. The sledgehammer, very great for smashing all kinds of shit. The spear, great for stabbing and whacking alike. The staff, a lot less lethal, but good for kicking ass. The knives, there's a couple here. Bowie knives, great for movie loving ghost face masked wearing murderers alike. And man were there a lot of them. And the kitchen knife here, great for mechanic outfit, Captain Kirk masked silent killers alike."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked confused during some of his explanations.

"Horror movies I watched growing up," Vanitas told them. "The killers in those movies used these iconic weapons to carry out their actions. The machete for hockey masked zombie Jason Fucking Voorhees, The bowie knives belonged to the various Ghostfaces that fucked with their victims before they killed them. And the kitchen knife belonged to Michael Fucking Myers, one of the first and best of the slashers."

"You sure watched a lot of movies as a kid, didn't you?" Goofy asked.

"Lots," Vanitas agreed. "You'd think that would have contributed to my fucked up mind. Surprisingly not."

"What about the other ones?" Sora asked, gesturing to Vanitas's guns.

"Oh, these are guns," Vanitas told him. "They fire small but deadly bits of lead called bullets with very surprising speed over great distances."

He started pulling out the guns this time to explain them.

"I used that same spell book to make the bullets deadly to heartless," Vanitas explained. "They could do damage earlier, but now they can destroy them with the right shots. Glock 22, contains lots of bullets, and is pretty powerful for a handgun. But I prefer this baby, my silver plated Colt 1911. The right balance between power and ammo. I also have this revolver Taurus, mostly as a backup. Just in case, you know? Now for the big boys..."

He pulled out a rifle with a triangular nozzle.

"Seekins Precision custom AR-15," Vanitas explained. "I don't understand why there's a triangular nozzle, it's a good rifle that I've saved lots of people with."

He picked up the other assault rifle.

"M4A2 assault rifle," Vanitas explained. "With a detachable scope to help see over great distances, and a detachable grenade launcher that can do _amazing _damage. I seem to be one of the only guys to use a rifle but actually hold on to the handle when I do it. I really don't understand why I'm so good at using military grade rifles."

"Didn't you get good over time?" Sora asked. "Practice, right?"

"Nope," Vanitas admitted. "I picked these two up, and I immediately knew how to use them."

He shrugged before he picked up the shotgun.

"12 gauge, pump action," he then showed his point by pumping it.

His companions jumped in surprise.

"Relax," Vanitas told them. "The safety's..."

He looked down and flicked a switch.

"...on," Vanitas finished, embarrassed.

"Safety?" Donald asked.

"These things are dangerous, man," Vanitas said. "There's a little lever on every gun ever made that makes it so the trigger can't be pulled, and the gun won't fire."

"That seems reasonable," Sora said, nodding.

"Shotguns are some of the most powerful guns that can be used by people not in the military," Vanitas explained. "Any redneck idiot can get 'em in a hunting store. Although, that would probably make problems arise if they get drunk."

The four of them then winced, thinking about how bad that situation could get.

"Well, anyway," Vanitas said, putting his weapons back in his sling. "Those are the weapons I carry and what you should expect when we're in combat."

"Why do you use them," Sora started. "If you clearly have access to magic? It seems a little brutal."

"That's kind of what I'm going for," Vanitas admitted. "There's someone I plan on finding, and I'm gonna go all kinds of brutal on 'em."

"That's a little dark," Goofy said.

"Darker than I expected from you," Donald said.

"Yeah, well," Vanitas started, sitting in a seat. "It's all I got to do."

After a second of silence, Sora walked over so he was in front of Vanitas. Vanitas looked up at the brunette curiously.

"Just because you think you're out of options," Sora said. "Doesn't mean you actually are. Things might be grim, but that doesn't mean you don't have the possibility for a second chance."

Vanitas stared up at his younger lookalike before Donald got their attention.

"We're here!" he announced.

They turned, just now remembering that they were still traveling to a different world.

"This one's called Wonderland," Goofy said, reading from the ships computer.

"Okay," Vanitas said, walking over to the console. "So where are we gonna land the ship?"

"We're not going to," Donald told him.

"What?" Sora asked.

Donald looked over to the ravenette and brunette humans.

"Trust me," he said with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the two a day bit was only temporary, as this one a day might be. Also, I figured it would be nice to see the full extent of Vanitas's arsenal, while also deciding to just be descriptive with the tattoos. Needed some way to have 'em known


	6. Everything Is Weird... Even By Our Standards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On a new world, the gang follows a curious rabbit to find a weird trial, along with an even weirder cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The two in one day might come back briefly in the future. I'm getting bored a lot more frequently

The four boys fell slowly down a circular chamber with odd designs along the brick like wall. They went down at just the right speed to not be in any danger, which also gave them enough time to actually see what the designs were like. For some reason, they looked like blurred out projections of various furniture. Vanitas' common argument saying that he's seen weirder might not be true while on this world.

As they got lower to the ground, Sora, Donald, and Vanitas changed their positions so it was more like they were landing from a jump, while Goofy wasn't paying attention because he was relaxing back with his eyes closed. They reached the ground, and the three in landing positions did so smoothly. Goofy, however, turned around just in time to crash into the ground on his front.

He opened his eyes just in time for a small white rabbit dressed in a suit and carrying a large pocket watch to run in front of his face.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" the rabbit exclaimed as he ran. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!"

The others stared at him curiously as he continued to run at a surprising speed.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" the rabbit panted. "I'm here, I should be there."

Goofy started to stand up as the rabbit ran around the corner.

"I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" he continued. "The queen, she'll have my head for sure!"

"I don't think that'll be the weirdest thing we encounter here," Vanitas announced.

"Something tells me you're right," Sora said.

They ran through the hallway, which looked like a normal hallway but with a dysmorphic makeover. The door was normal, though... until it opened up and two more doors were behind it. Walking through the narrow hallways, they went through another door into what looked like a different room. This one had a bed, another door, the indent of a table and a chair in the floor, a brick stove and fireplace, a faucet, some chairs, and bookshelves containing knickknacks. Attached to the ceiling were some oil lamps that weren't well lit at the moment.

The group looked down to see that the rabbit had somehow gotten smaller and was running through a smaller door in the other door. The smaller door shut behind him, and the four of them walked over curiously.

"Doesn't look like this larger door opens," Vanitas observed.

"The smaller one must be the only way through, then," Donald said.

Sora crouched down to look at the door.

"How did he get so small?" he asked.

"No," the doorknob said. "You're simply too big."

Donald exclaimed in surprise, Sora and Vanitas widened their eyes, and Goofy just leaned in to look at the doorknob better.

"It talks!" Donald announced.

"What the fuck?" Vanitas whispered, thinking he had finally gotten high after nine years of trying.

The doorknob yawned loudly.

"Must you be so loud?" he asked. "You woke me up."

"Good morning," Goofy said, waving to the doorknob.

"Good night!" the doorknob corrected him. "I need a bit more sleep."

He closed his eyes and yawned again.

"Wait," Sora said, reaching out to get the doorknobs attention. "What do we have to do to grow small?"

"Why don't you try the bottle," the doorknob woozily said. He gestured forwards as he continued, "Over there."

Sora turned around to see what he was gesturing towards, and turned saw the table and chair rise out of the ground. On the table were two medicine bottles, one with a blue label, one with an orange label. Turning back towards the doorknob, they saw that he had fallen asleep again.

"He might not be helping us again," Donald said.

"No," Vanitas agreed. "So we're gonna have to figure this out on our own."

Vanitas walked over to the bed and saw that it was blocking a small entrance. Figuring it was just as odd as everything else on this world, he pushed it in, and it retreated into the wall, making the design of a bed next to the design of a clock. With the bed now a design, they were able to see the small entrance clearly.

"We could probably go through if we were small enough," Sora said, gesturing to the bottles on the table.

"This is a weird fucking world," Vanitas muttered, walking to join his companions at the table.

The four of them took turns drinking from the blue bottle, and they all suddenly shrank down so that they could fit through the small door or the entranceway next to the large door. For some reason, though, they were standing on the table.

"This seems like it'll be a fun world," Goofy observed.

"You said it," Sora agreed.

"If you call this fun," Vanitas muttered.

"Let's get back to business," Donald told them.

The four of them jumped off the table and through the entranceway, figuring the door wouldn't open for them. They ran down a small corridor until it opened up to reveal something new.

The four were in a large garden that had podiums, seats, a staircase leading up to a stand, and, for some reason, a birdcage. They watched as card like soldiers stepped out of the way, showing that a large woman was at the top of the tallest podium, and a small blonde girl was at the smallest one. The rabbit from earlier ran up the staircase, now holding a trumpet.

The group walked forward so they were standing inside a heart shaped hedge archway. They watched as the breathless rabbit played the trumpet, signifying something was going on.

"Court is now in session!" the rabbit announced.

"I'm on trial?" the girl asked. "But why?"

For some reason, Vanitas could sense large amounts of light coming from the girl at the podium. Something told him she had to be important to have that strong of light within her heart.

"Her majesty," the rabbit continued. "The Queen of Hearts, presiding!"

"The large woman, who the group figured was the Queen of Hearts, opened her eyes and looked down at the blonde girl.

"This girl is the culprit," the Queen declared. "There's no doubt about it. And the reason is... because I say so, that's why!"

"This is a fucked up court system," Vanitas muttered to the others.

While it was clear they weren't fans of how much he cussed, they did nod in agreement at Vanitas' claim.

"That is so unfair!" the blonde girl declared.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" the Queen of Hearts asked.

"Of course!" the girl said, pointing at the Queen. "I've done absolutely nothing wrong! 

While she talked, the rabbit looked more worried while the Queen looked more mad.

"You may be queen," she continued. "But I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!"

"Silence!" the Queen bellowed. "You dare defy me?"

The group watched on, worriedly.

"Hey, guys," Sora said. "We should help her out."

"Yeah," Donald said. "But the..."

"We're outsiders," Goofy said. "So wouldn't that be muddling?"

"'Meddling'!" Donald corrected him, pointing up.

"Oh, yeah," Goofy said. "And that's against the rules."

"We can, though," Vanitas said. "If someone's life is in danger, right?"

Donald thought for a second.

"Well, yeah," he said. "I guess."

"The court finds the defendant," the Queen pulled them out of their discussion. "Guilty as charged!"

The blonde girl looked scared at that.

"For the crimes of assault," the Queen continued. "And attempted theft of my heart..."

Sora gasped at that, while he and Vanitas looked at the Queen angrily.

"... Off with her head!"

The card soldiers turned to face the blonde girl.

"No! No!" the girl yelled. "Oh, please!"

"Hold it right there!" Sora yelled out as he and the others ran forwards.

The cards stepped out of the way, letting the group come forwards.

"Who are you?" the Queen asked as they stood in front of the podium. "How dare you interfere with my court?"

"Your court's..." Vanitas started before Goofy covered his mouth with his hands.

Goofy figured it was best to not insult these people as much as they already were, so covering up Vanitas' swearing was probably a good choice.

"Excuse me," Sora said. "But we know who the real culprit is!"

"Uh huh," Goofy agreed. "It's the heartle-"

He stopped himself by covering his own mouth with his hand. Sora looked at Goofy before he looked back towards the Queen and pointed at her.

"Anyway," Sora said. "She's not the one you're looking for."

"That's nonsense," the Queen declared. "Have you any proof?"

Sora paused with a surprised look on his face.

"She's got us there," Vanitas muttered to the brunette.

The blonde girl was stuffed in the nearby birdcage.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" the Queen announced. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads! Gather as much or little evidence as you please. Report back here once you're ready."

"Just one bullet," Vanitas whispered to his companions. "It'll all be over like that."

He snapped his fingers. The others looked at him, immediately understanding what he meant, but also immediately dismissing his idea with the looks of anger on their faces.

"No," Sora, Donald, and Goofy all told him.

They turned and walked towards another pathway.

"I'm just saying," Vanitas said as he walked after them. "It would end things quickly."

The group walked down the pathway into a strange looking forest. Looking forwards, they were surprised to see the disembodied head of a smiling cat to appear, float around, then disappear. The head appeared and disappeared a few times before it appeared once again over a big tree stump. This time, the cats body was floating over the head. The body placed its feet on the stump, picked up the still smiling head, and put it where the neck should have been.

"Who are you?" Donald exclaimed, jumping up and down.

"Who, indeed?" the cat asked. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"Hey," Sora said. "If you know who the culprit is, tell us!"

"Pretty logical solution, dude," Vanitas told him.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers," the Cheshire Cat said. "But doesn't always tell. The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness."

With that, the Cheshire Cat disappeared.

"Wait!" Sora called out.

"They've already left the forest," the Cheshire Cat's voice said somewhere. "I won't tell which exit. There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find. The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

"Should we trust him?" Donald asked.

"To trust, or not to trust?" the Cheshire Cat asked as he reappeared. "I trust you'll decide!"

He disappeared again.

"He seems like he wants to help," Vanitas said. "But stay prepared. You never know with these kinds of people."

They went around as much of the world as they could looking for the evidence while fighting heartless. While fighting Soldiers, Shadows, red nocturnal heartless, and giant circular heartless, they searched around the forest and the Bizarre Room. They managed to find the first three chests of evidence pretty easily, but ended up having to go through a unique path to find the fourth one. They went through a path in the forest, and ended up falling out of a shutter in the Bizarre Room. They fell towards a faucet.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy landed on the faucet, but there wasn't a lot of room, so Vanitas ended up dangling on the side of it.

"Geez!" Vanitas said. "He's right, this one is tricky to get."

"There," Sora said, pointing to the top of the China cabinet next to them.

The others followed his gaze to see the last box of evidence on the cabinet.

"All right," Vanitas said.

He then launched himself into the air, up over the others, and did a back flip to land on the cabinet. The others jumped onto the cabinet normally.

"You're very agile," Goofy commented.

"Thanks," Vanitas said.

Sora picked up the box of evidence box and put it with the others. The Cheshire Cat appeared on the faucet nearby.

"Well, look what you've found," the Cheshire Cat said. "Nice going."

"Now we can save Alice," Sora said.

"Don't be so sure!" the Cheshire Cat said. "She may be innocent, but what about you?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

Vanitas looked at the cat, curious about if he knew about his lie. He was suddenly on edge.

"I won't tell," the Cheshire Cat said. "But I'll give you something."

Blue light appeared around the group, and Vanitas could swear something about it felt like ice. Once the light faded, the Cheshire Cat disappeared.

They made their way back to the Queen's court, and showed that they had their evidence. Sora and Vanitas stood at trial while Donald and Goofy stood in a nearby podium.

"Now," the Queen told them. "Show me what you have found."

Sora and Vanitas placed their four boxes of evidence down between the Queen's podium and their podium.

"Well, that's certainly a lot of evidence," the Queen admitted. "But I'm still not impressed."

"Bitch," Vanitas muttered.

"Cards!" the Queen yelled out. "Bring forth my evidence!"

The cards placed down a box of evidence next to the other boxes. The five boxes were then mixed together and placed back in order, so no one could tell which was which.

"Hmm," the Queen said. "Checking all five would be a waste of time. All right, then. Choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence."

"What?" Vanitas yelled. "Are you kidding?"

"After all the trouble of collecting it?" Sora asked, in equal disbelief.

"You dare object?" the Queen yelled. "Then you will lose your head! Now choose! One box!"

Sora and Vanitas walked over, and looked over the boxes. Vanitas had started to think they should have marked one of the boxes for something like this, but they'd think about that later. Eventually, the two of them settled on the box that was second from Donald and Goofy.

"Are you certain?" the Queen asked. "No second chances!"

"Yes," Vanitas answered.

"We're sure," Sora agreed.

"Now we shall see who the real culprit is," the Queen bellowed.

Sora and Vanitas stood back at the podium while the box opened. Unfortunately, the box disappeared, and left behind an image of Donald and Goofy. The image disappeared, and Donald and Goofy were suddenly behind bars in circular cages.

"Yeah, we probably should have marked one of the boxes," Vanitas commented as he and Sora watched their friends that looked a little scared.

"What!" the Queen yelled. "So you're the culprits!"

"Wait!" Sora yelled. "This can't be right!"

"We literally got here like twenty minutes ago!" Vanitas added.

"You're all guilty!" the Queen yelled. "Seize them!"

"Sora!" Donald yelled. "Vanitas! Do something!"

"We have no choice!" Sora yelled back. "Let's take 'em!"

The podiums and the hedge archway disappeared, the Queen's podium was now closer to the ground, and a tower with cranks on it was in the center of the area. A card soldier pulled the cranks and the birdcage was suddenly up in the air, made so that Alice couldn't see anything.

"I'll hold 'em off," Vanitas said as he pulled the staff out of his sling. "You get Donnie and Goof."

"Okay," Sora said as he summoned his Keyblade.

"Cards!" the Queen yelled. "If they touch that tower, you lose your heads."

Sora ran towards the cages and started attacking them, trying to smash them and get Donald and Goofy out. While he did that, Vanitas attacked at the soldiers that came after them with his staff. As they were cards, he felt he didn't have to hold back with his strength. This ended up knocking some so that they were at a right angle, and Vanitas couldn't tell if that was healthy for them or not.

Of course, some soldiers managed to get in attacks on Sora, so he had to fight back with the new Blizzard magic he just learned. Once they had been knocked back enough, Sora and Vanitas attacked at the cages a couple of times each, and they opened up, releasing Donald and Goofy. They rushed in with their staff and shield, and started attacking the soldiers.

The Queen was yelling at the soldiers, so Vanitas pulled out his Colt and shot at the wood next to her on the podium. She ducked down out of the way, and Vanitas turned away to see the disapproving face of Sora.

"It was a warning shot," Vanitas said as he put his gun back in the holster. "I wasn't gonna kill her."

The group then alternated their attacks, some of them on the card soldiers, and some of them on the tower. They managed to turn the gears enough, but then the gears disappeared and the cage wasn't all the way down.

"What now?" Goofy asked.

Vanitas put the staff back in his sling and pulled out the sledgehammer.

"Finish it off," Vanitas said as he smashed the the hammer against the tower.

When cracks appeared in the tower, the others decided to follow his example. Sora attacked it with combos, Donald whacked it with his staff, Goofy smacked his shield into it, and Vanitas kept slamming the sledgehammer into it. In very little time, the tower was completely destroyed, and the birdcage was on the ground.

Everyone turned to the birdcage to see it rotate around to reveal...

Nothing.

Alice was gone.

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald said as they walked towards the birdcage, their weapons concealed.

"But how?" Vanitas asked, genuinely confused. "We might have been looking away, but that would have been a really obvious thing to see."

They thought about that for a second before realizing Vanitas was right.

"You fools!" the Queen bellowed to the card soldiers. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!"

"We should look, too," Sora told the others.

They nodded their agreement and followed Sora back into the Forest. Their attention was immediately drawn to a big red flower that opened up and deposited a giant boulder as tall as Sora. The Cheshire Cat appeared on top and looked at the group.

"Have you seen Alice?" Donald asked as they walked towards him.

"Alice, no," the Cheshire Cat told them. "Shadows, yes!"

"Where did they go?" Goofy asked.

"It's kind of our job to take them out," Vanitas told him.

"This way?" the Cheshire Cat asked. "That way? Does it matter? Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows! Step forward into the forest to the deserted garden. You might find the shadows in the upside-down room!"

The Cheshire Cat disappeared.

"This boulder," Vanitas realized. "Didn't it cover up a way through somewhere?"

"It did," Donald said.

They went through the forest to find another entryway. This one led them to a garden with a large ornate table, with lots of chairs around it. They went through a door on a nearby house, and were surprised at where it lead them.

"So that's what he was talking about," Vanitas commented.

They were back in the Bizarre Room, but upside down, on the ceiling.

Looking around, they could see that the oil lamps were off.

"Turning on light," Vanitas realized. "Makes shadows appear."

The others quickly understood what he was talking about.

"Is that a good idea?" Donald asked.

"Probably not," Vanitas admitted. "But what else are we gonna do?"

"He's got a point," Sora told Donald.

Sora went up the side and jumped onto the the sides of the lamps. He raised his Keyblade up and released a bit of magic, turning on the lamps.

"What now?" Goofy asked as Sora jumped down to join them.

"We're probably gonna have to get ready for a fight," Vanitas said. "In the regular part."

He looked up to see the floor of the Bizarre Room, and they understood.

"Let's go," Sora said.

They ran through a nearby shutter and ended up back in the Queen's courtyard. They ran through the familiar pathway to the Bizarre Room, and saw the Cheshire Cat standing on top of the table. They jumped up to join him.

"The shadows should be here soon," the Cheshire Cat told them. "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad."

He pointed up to the ceiling. They followed his gaze just in time to see a large heartless leap onto the floor. It did a backflip over the table and stared at them. Its arms extended like paper, and sparklers appeared in each of its hands.

Donald had his staff, Goofy had his shield, Sora had his Keyblade, and Vanitas had his M4 rifle.

Sora jumped up and missed starting a combo at the Trickster's head, while Vanitas shot multiple shots at it once Sora was out of the way. Both Sora and Goofy had rushed in and tried dodging attacks while also trying to find ways to get in attacks of their own. Unfortunately, the heartless was able to block some of the attacks they did with its sparklers.

After a couple of shots with his assault rifle, Vanitas managed to knock it confused. This made the Trickster crouch down, so Sora took that as an opening to attack it with his combos. After a few attacks, the heartless managed to stand up straight again. It made a few more attacks with its sparklers, which the group made sure to dodge.

Sora and Goofy made more attempts to jump up and attack the heartless, while Donald tried to blast Blizzard at it. Vanitas was the only one who was able to get some shots in while they were on the ground since he had his rifle, but they didn't do too much damage.

Unfortunately, Donald and Goofy weren't the most careful with dodging, so the Trickster managed to attack them a few times with its sparklers. Sora got the bright idea to jump on the chair and use it to elevate himself up. He jumped up from the chair and jumped up to attack the heartless in the head with combo attacks. This knocked the Trickster confused again, so Vanitas shot at its head at close range while Sora got in a few more combo attacks.

Once the heartless got up again, Sora kept jumping on the chair and jumping up to attack it in its head. Vanitas continued to shoot it with his rifle, while Donald shot fire at its head.

This pattern went on for a while. Sora and Goofy kept trying to jump up to attack, while Vanitas and Donald shot at it, Vanitas with his gun, Donald with magic. Sora would use the chair to get airtime to get in clear combos. The heartless would try to attack them and miss, and it would then fall to the ground in confusion.

It worked until Vanitas emptied his ammo magazine.

The second the gun clicked empty, the Trickster knocked Vanitas aside so hard he went ramming into the wall.

"Vanitas!" Sora called out in concern before he turned back to the heartless.

Unfortunately, the heartless slammed its sparklers into the table, causing it and the chair to retreat back into the floor.

Both Goofy and Donald kept trying to attack the Trickster with their attacks, though. Goofy kept attempting to jump up and whack it with his shield, while Donald kept blasting magic at it. While they did that, Sora ran over to Vanitas to see if he was okay. He was fine, but his rifle had clattered behind a barricade.

"Gonna be hard to reach him without the table," Vanitas said.

"How strong are you?" Sora asked. "Strong enough to lift a person?"

"Yeah, easily," Vanitas answered. "Why?"

"I think we got him nearly done," Sora explained. "I figured if you covered the Keyblade in fire and launched me at him..."

"Then you could do a powerful enough blow to finish him off," Vanitas finished.

Vanitas snapped his fingers, and the blade of Sora's Keyblade was encased in fire. He then made Sora crouch down while he grabbed at Sora's shoulder and back parts of his jacket.

"Out of the way, guys!" Vanitas called to Donald and Goofy.

They turned Vanitas's way and saw what he was doing with Sora. Quickly figuring out what was going on, Donald and Goofy ran in opposite directions from the Trickster.

"Hold on," Vanitas told Sora.

"To what?" Sora asked.

Vanitas made them turn in a circle to build momentum, and threw Sora at the heartless' head. Sora yelled as he slashed his Keyblade through it and landed on the opposite side, near the doorknob.

The group gathered near Sora and watched as the Heartless fell to the ground in defeat. A heart floated out of its chest and it disappeared in a flash of light.

The four turned to the sound of yawning coming from the doorknob.

"What a racket," he said. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"

He opened his mouth wide in a yawn again, but this time a keyhole shaped light appeared in it. The group watched as the light flared into an actual keyhole. Light appeared at the end of Sora's Keyblade, and he gasped as it shot into the keyhole. More light flared, and the sound of a lock clicking resonated before the light finally died. The doorknob finally closed his mouth, as well.

"What was that?" Donald asked.

"The Keyhole," Vanitas answered. "I'm pretty sure we just saved this world from the heartless."

"It sounded like something closed," Sora said.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "I'm pretty sure that's what happens with those. I don't remember."

A small gummi piece fell out of the doorknob's mouth and on the floor.

"This gummi ain't like the others," Goofy said. "No, sir."

"Okay," Donald said. "I'll hold on to it."

Their attentions were drawn to the Cheshire Cat reappearing on top of to the table.

"Splendid," the cat called out. "You're quite the the hero. If you're looking for Alice, she's not here. She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness."

"No..." Sora said as the Cheshire Cat disappeared.

"Something tells me it wasn't a voluntary trip," Vanitas said.

"We'll just have to look for her, too," Goofy said.

"Exactly," Donald agreed. "Let's head back to the gummi ship. We might find her in another world."

Vanitas ran over to where his rifle fell and picked it up.

"Let's move," he said as he put his rifle back in his sling. "There's a lot of worlds out there that still need our help."

"What happened to looking for that guy and being all brutal on him?" Goofy asked as they walked down a path.

"That's still on," Vanitas said. "But it can be put on hold long enough when people are in danger."

Vanitas' companions looked at him with silent respect as they made their way back to the ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, while Vanitas is still a homicidal asshole, he's still willing to help people in need. Not everything changed about him during the last decade


	7. Crashing in the Jungle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some conflict on the ship leads to the gang crash landing on a new world, they don't expect much. However, they find more than they would have guessed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I pretty much half ass what I say in these notes, and in the summary. But I should mention that these chapter might get shorter going down the line since these world actually tend to be a bit longer than the ones in Birth by Sleep.

The next ride in the ship wasn't as eventful as the last one. That is, up until they came across a world that looked like a giant jungle.

"Hey, Donald," Goofy said. "Maybe King Mickey's down there."

"In a backwater place like that?" Donald asked. "No way!"

"Aren't we supposed to check every world?" Vanitas asked. "It's a possibility."

"No," Donald told him like he was an idiot. "Let's move on."

Vanitas coughed, not doing a lot of effort to cover up him saying, "Jackass."

"Hold on," Sora interjected. "Riku and Kairi might be down there. Let's just check it out."

"Forget it!" Donald yelled. "We're on an important mission!"

"So it's more important to find your friends than it is to find his friends?" Vanitas asked, pointing accusingly at Donald.

"Just land!" Sora yelled back at Donald.

"No!" Donald declared, stubbornly.

"Come on!" Sora insisted.

"Aw, phooey!" Donald said, annoyed.

"We're landing!" Sora said, grabbing his part of the controls.

The ship suddenly shook around violently.

"Don't touch that!" Donald yelled. "Nooo!"

The ship suddenly started spinning around as it flew closer to the world. At one point when it was upside down, the glass of the cockpit opened, and the four of them fell out to the world. Donald and Goofy fell into the jungle, while Sora and Vanitas fell to a big treehouse. Vanitas yelled as he fell onto a net on the part briefly below the treehouse.

"Ow," Vanitas said as he raised his head.

He got on his hands and knees and looked up to the treehouse. This treehouse was was more like an actual house that people would sleep in, rather than a little fort for kids to play in. He got up on his feet and started walking up the net.

"Gotta be where Sora landed," Vanitas muttered as he went up various staircases.

He ran around a ledge on the side just in time for a tiger to jump out the window in front of him. The tiger ran off and Vanitas jumped in through the window, finding Sora and a buff looking, brown haired man wearing nothing but a loincloth holding a spear.

"Hey," Vanitas announced, walking towards Sora. "What'd I miss?"

"I fought a tiger," Sora said.

Vanitas looked back at the window the tiger had jumped out of then back at the brown haired man.

"Sabor," he told them. "Danger."

"Um..." Sora said, uncertainly. "Thank you."

"Thank you," the man said, with similar uncertainty.

"Huh?" Sora asked. "Um, what is this place?"

"This place," the man said. "This place."

"It looks like a giant treehouse from the outside," Vanitas told him as he looked at the ceiling. "Man, I wish I had one like this as a kid."

"Thanks," Sora told Vanitas. "But where did the others go?"

"I saw them falling towards the jungle," Vanitas said, looking back towards Sora. "But who knows how big this place is?"

Sora turned that in then turned to the brown haired man again.

"Look," Sora said. "We got separated from our friends. Have you seen them?"

_Not sure I'd call them my friends,_ Vanitas thought.

The man just looked curiously at Sora as he spoke.

"Friends..." Sora emphasized, putting his hands at his chest.

_Is he high? _Vanitas thought.

"Friends!" the man exclaimed, putting his hands at his chest as well.

"Right," Sora said, excited. "Our friends! There's two of 'em. The loud one is Dona..."

He looked down in consideration for a second, then looked back at the man.

"You know what?" he asked. "Never mind."

"That was fast," Vanitas muttered.

"I'm looking for my friends," Sora continued. "Riku and Kairi."

_Sure_, Vanitas thought. _Just tell people their names and not give any description about what they look like. That'll find 'em for sure._

"Look for Riku," the man said. "Friends?"

"Right!" Sora said with a nod of his head.

He then looked behind the man, which Vanitas didn't understand because there was nothing there.

"Kairi," the man said. "Friends?"

"Uhh..." Sora said. "Right."

He continued to stare behind the man until he grunted.

"Friends here," the man said.

"Really!?" Sora said, excited, as he looked at the man.

"That was surprisingly easy," Vanitas commented, crossing his arms.

"*&&X%," the man said.

"Huh?" Sora asked.

"What?" Vanitas asked.

"*&&X%," the man said again. "Friends here."

"Not sure I understand," Sora said. "But show me! Take me to Riku and Kairi!"

"Tarzan," the man said, putting his hands on his chest. "Tarzan, go."

"And I'm Sora," Sora said, pointing at his chest with his thumb.

"Vanitas," Vanitas said, raising his hand.

"Tarzan go," Sora said, pointing at Tarzan, then back at himself and Vanitas. "Sora and Vanitas, go go!"

They walked out the front doors of the tree house, and stood on the balcony like area, staring out into the distance of the jungle. Jumping off the edge and the net, they made their way down the very large trees and thickets until they came to a research area with a big tent. Vanitas and Sora followed Tarzan into a tent where a brown haired woman was working with a projector.

"Jane!" Tarzan announced.

"Tarzan!" the woman who they understood was Jane said as she turned to see him. She noticed Sora and Vanitas. "Oh, and who is this?"

"Uh," Sora said, uncertainly. "Hi there. We're..."

"Oh," Jane interrupted him, leaning down a bit to look at the two. "You speak English!"

"Yeah, pretty well," Vanitas said.

"So, then" Jane continued. "Obviously, you're not related to Tarzan..."

During that, Sora and Vanitas looked at Tarzan, who was on his hands and feet this whole time.

"Are you here to study the gorillas?" Jane asked.

"Highly doubtful," a new voice announced.

They turned to see a man dressed like a hunter, carrying a rifle walked in, with Donald and Goofy trailing behind him.

"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed, excited. "Vanitas!"

Vanitas managed to spare a small smile towards the two before he quickly dismissed it.

"Goofy!" Sora exclaimed, running towards the two. As he and Donald took each others hands, he added, "Donald!"

The two looked at each other for a second, before they remembered their fight. Goofy and Vanitas watched as the two turned to look away from each other and crossed their arms, anger evident on their faces.

"Oh, boy..." Vanitas whispered, and Goofy looked like he agreed with the ravenette.

"A circus of clowns," the hunter commented as he walked out the tent. "Not much use for hunting gorillas."

Since the man was facing away from Vanitas, he felt it okay to raise his middle finger at his back.

"Mr Clayton," Jane called to him, annoyed. "We're studying them, not hunting them. This is research."

"Why would you even want to hunt a gorilla?" Vanitas asked, genuinely confused. "I mean, what's the endgame there?"

"Well," Jane said more cheerfully, turning towards the group. "The more the merrier. Do make yourselves at home."

"Already on it," Vanitas said, pulling out his flask.

After a second of silence, Sora finally spoke up.

"Well, anyway..." he said.

"I'm staying," both Sora and Donald said at the same time.

Both Sora and Vanitas looked at Donald in confusion. After all, he was the one that was against coming here.

"Sora, Vanitas," Goofy said, holding out his hands. "Look what we found. Look at this."

He opened up his hands to show off the square like gummi piece.

"What's that?" Sora asked.

"It's a gummi block," Goofy said. "It's the same stuff used to build our ship."

"So that means..." Sora started.

"The king could be here," Donald finished.

"Told you so," Vanitas said.

"Anyway," Donald continued. "We've gotta work together to look for him. _For now._"

The authority in the duck's voice made Vanitas smirk.

"Fine," Sora said. "I'll let you tag along. _For now._"

The authority in Sora's voice made Vanitas cover his face to hide his laughter.

After taking a few seconds to gather their surroundings, Sora and Vanitas started talking to Jane.

"Apparently Tarzan was raised in the jungle by the gorillas," she told them. "Communicating with him still isn't easy, but he's learning.

"So he was speaking 'gorilla' back there..." Sora said.

"He sounded like he was grunting," Vanitas commented. "Never would have guessed that's how gorillas spoke."

"Anyway," Jane said. "You're looking for your friends?"

"He said Riku and Kairi are here," Sora said. "And one word I couldn't understand..."

"Why don't we try this?" Jane asked, gesturing to her projector.

"What'll that do?" Vanitas asked.

"We'll show Tarzan some slides and see if any of them match that word," Jane explained. "Oh, what happened to the slides?"

After briefly looking around outside, they managed to find the slides and put them in the projector. They started it up and started projecting images on the wall. The first image that came up was one of a regal looking castle surrounded by a small forest. Vanitas couldn't help but think that it looked familiar. Plus, the more he thought about it, so did Sora.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Donald asked.

"What?" Sora asked. "Um... nothing."

Their thoughts were diminished as the images continued to play. Five more images showed up, including a man and a woman dressed nicely, the man on his knees holding up flowers to the woman, a gorilla, a ship at sea, and two men sword fighting.

"Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked, turning towards Tarzan once the slideshow ended.

"Where are my friends, RIku and Kairi?" Sora asked.

Tarzan just shook his head.

"Hey," Sora said. "I thought..."

"That leaves just one place," Clayton's voice announced as he walked into the tent.

"Young man," he said as he walked towards Donald and Goofy. "We have been in this jungle for some time now. But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours. I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

He pointed one finger up as he finished.

"I think he's using this to get something," Vanitas muttered to Sora.

"Really, Mr. Clayton," Jane said. "Tarzan wouldn't hide..."

She was interrupted by the man in question as he walked to face Tarzan.

"Then take us there!" Clayton said to Tarzan with his fists on his hips. "Take us to the gorillas. Go-ril-las."

"This might not be a good idea," Vanitas whispered to Sora again.

Tarzan looked towards Sora again, who was just watching the whole ordeal. After a second, he nodded his head.

"Tarzan," Jane said. "Are you sure?"

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," he told them.

"Kerchak?" Jane asked.

"Sounds important," Vanitas commented.

"He must be the leader," Clayton said. "Perfect. I'll go along as an escort. After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Somehow Vanitas was the only one who could see the wide grin on the hunter's face.

"Watch out for that guy," Vanitas muttered to his comrades once Donald and Goofy walked over. "Something seems off about him."

Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement, while Sora whispered back, "Okay."

Vanitas turned to watch Clayton leave the tent.

_What are you up to, Clayton?_


	8. Fighting in the Jungle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Problems arise and fights are fought

A group consisting of Sora, Vanitas, Tarzan, Donald, and Goofy went off into one part of the jungle while Clayton went off on his own. Sora's group went up into the trees and swung on some vines before they managed to find what they were looking for. They stood on a large leaved expanse that gave them a good view of two gorillas standing on a nearby branch. One gorilla was noticeably larger and more intimidating than the other one, so they figured he was Kerchak.

Sora and the others stood to the side while Tarzan tried talking to Kerchak. As he was speaking gorilla, they didn't understand him.

"Feels like we're at the kiddie table," Vanitas whispered to his counterparts. "Not understanding what's going on."

"We just don't know the language," Sora defended. "That doesn't entirely mean we're in the dark."

"Uh," Goofy said, still watching the situation with Tarzan as he leaned down towards Donald. "Did you get that?"

"No," Donald admitted.

Kerchak suddenly looked up further into the air. He turned and crawled down the branch on all fours. After looking at Tarzan for a second, the other gorilla followed Kerchak.

Tarzan looked down in shame, and, somehow, Vanitas could hear his friends' thoughts.

_He seemed sorta distracted by something,_ he heard Goofy's thoughts.

_Was he looking towards the treehouse?_ he heard Donald's thoughts.

Vanitas was confused. Since when was he able to do that?

The group went up the vines and through a secret area that helped them get to the treehouse. Led by Donald, they managed to reach the balcony like area in front of the front doors just as Clayton was aiming his gun at a smaller gorilla that was playing with a globe.

Donald jumped up and screamed, scaring Clayton into shooting his gun. The smaller gorilla ran out of the way before the bullet could hit it, and ran up the side to join Kerchak on the second level.

"What's the big idea?" Donald asked, looking down at Clayton, who sat staring in fear.

Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy stood around the man while Tarzan walked into the center of the room, and tried calling out to Kerchak again. The head gorilla just turned around and walked away, followed by the smaller gorilla. The group then turned to look at Clayton, anger in all of their eyes.

"You don't understand," Clayton nervously tried to explain. "I was only trying to...

He thought of something.

"Ah," he continued. "A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."

Tarzan closed his eyes, looked down, and shook his head in shame.

The group made their way back to the camp where they explained what happened to Jane.

"How could you do such a thing!" she yelled at Clayton.

"Now, Miss Porter," the hunter tried explaining himself. "As I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla."

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" Jane declared.

"All because of one mishap?" Clayton laughed. "Come now..."

The smile was wiped off his face when he saw the anger that everyone else was displaying to him.

"Fair warning," Vanitas said. "You've got a gun..."

He pulled his AR-15 out from his sling.

"And I've got bigger guns," he continued. "Try us, we'll see who wins, bitch."

Clayton laughed awkwardly as he walked backwards out of the tent.

"Probably the only time we're gonna agree with you threatening someone," Donald commented at Vanitas.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," Vanitas agreed.

"But do you have to be so dangerous with your threats?" Sora asked. "Can't you just be a little calmer?"

"Nine years," Vanitas reminded them. "Homicidal rampage. Nothing changes that quickly."

"He's right about that," Goofy said, crossing his arms.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a loud gunshot from outside. Everyone's attention turned towards the entrance to the tent.

"What'd he do?" Vanitas whispered as they ran out the tent into the campsite.

Across the campsite, they saw that a gorilla was surrounded by monkey like heartless.

"Heartless!" Sora exclaimed.

"Fuck," Vanitas muttered as he aimed his rifle.

Vanitas shot one in the chest, Donald blasted one with fire, Goofy smashed one into the ground, Sora attacked one with a combo, and Tarzan stabbed one with his spear. Once they made sure the gorilla was safe, they went back to the tent.

Jane would then gave them instructions on places to go to that the gorillas were, and they went there. Once there, they took out the various heartless and made sure the gorillas were safe. They went through the bamboo forest, the cliff face, the treehouse, and the secret area that led up to it.

"When did we turn into a gorilla protection team?" Vanitas tried joking as they made their way back to the tent for the last time.

Goofy and Sora chuckled at the joke while Donald kept a straight face, but he could see the duck trying to contain a small smile.

Once back at the campsite, their attention was drawn to the bamboo forest, when a gunshot had gone off again.

"He's probably in danger," Sora said.

"Or he might be putting someone else in danger," Vanitas pointed out. "Either way..."

They ran into the bamboo forest, stopping at the little ledge when they saw that Clayton's pipe was on it. After a couple of seconds of silence, something jumped out of the bamboo thicket. With barely enough time, the group pulled out their weapons and faced the angry tiger, Sabor.

Sabor leaped towards Sora, but Vanitas managed to knock him aside with a well timed swing with his sledgehammer. The tiger quickly got his bearings back, and ran in an arc around Vanitas. Donald blasted the tiger with ice while Goofy tried to spin attack it. Sora rushed in for a combo, and the second attack was deflected by Sabor slashing with his claws. Tarzan jumped in and swung his spear at the tiger, knocking him aside briefly.

Sora rushed in before Sabor could get back on his paws, and cornered him by attacking with combos. Donald shot fire at the tiger from the distance as he jumped into the bamboo thicket again. Sabor then leaped out, trying to pounce on Vanitas, but he spun around and did a back kick at his head, knocking him aside again.

Sabor got on his paws again, and tried leaping forwards in a slashing attack that Goofy blocked, and made him lose his balance. Tarzan swung his spear at the tiger again, knocking him aside again, and Sora rushed in attacking with combos before he could get back on his paws.

Everyone stood back and watched as the tiger woozily looked around, then up in the air. He then quickly fell to the ground, and didn't move a muscle.

"We just killed a tiger," Vanitas observed.

"I think here it was self defense," Donald pointed out.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed, tilting his head as he looked at the limp body of Sabor.

The group made their way back to the tent, and were surprised to see that Jane was gone.

"Hey, where's Jane?" Sora asked.

"Something must have happened," Vanitas said. "Something that would make her leave."

Tarzan, meanwhile, just stared towards the back wall of the tent.

"What's wrong, Tarzan?" Goofy asked.

"Something coming," he answered, looking at Sora and Vanitas from over his shoulder. "Jane, danger. Jane near... Near tree house."

"Don't know how you know that," Vanitas said. "But it sounds like trouble."

"Let's go," Donald agreed.

The group went up the trees and vines into the secret area that led to the treehouse. However, the way that led to the treehouse, and the once that led to another area, were blocked by vines.

"Tarzan!" Jane called out from behind the vines blocking the entrance to the treehouse.

She was holding the smaller gorilla in her arms as they were wrapped in a blanket.

Looking around, the group didn't see any way that they could remove the vines, as they looked too thick for Vanitas' machete, and too strong for his and Donald's fire. Then, they noticed a big black fruit hanging from the tree trunk in the center of the area.

"That wasn't there before," Vanitas said, pulling out his machete anyway.

"Nope," Sora agreed, summoning out his Keyblade.

The group ran forward in an attack. Sora attacked the fruit with his Keyblade in combos. Vanitas hacked at the fruit and heartless that came nearby with his machete. Donald attacked at the heartless with alternating attacks, some with fire and Blizzard, and some by just whacking them with his staff. Goofy did a spin attack to knock aside multiple heartless that came near. Tarzan leaped and lunged towards multiple heartless, attacking with his spear.

They didn't have to do this for long, though. After enough combos from Sora's Keyblade, and enough hacking with Vanitas' machete, the fruit was eventually destroyed. Once that happened, the heartless stopped spawning, and the vines disappeared.

Once they were sure Jane was okay, she tried explaining what had happened.

"Clayton came into the tent, and," she said. "That's the last thing I remember."

"Clayton?" Sora asked.

"Guess he decided his time had come," Vanitas said. "Now he can do what he wants."

"Gorillas trapped," Tarzan said. "Terk ran."

Vanitas guessed that the smaller gorilla Jane was holding was Terk.

"We must help the gorillas!" Jane declared.

"We're on it," Sora assured her.

"Let's move," Vanitas told his acquaintances as he pulled out his Colt and slid back the chamber.

The group made their way down to the cliff face just in time to witness Clayton standing around the heartless as they cornered the gorillas. Clayton was pointing his gun at one while the heartless leaped at Kerchak. Clayton put his finger on the trigger...

"No!" Sora yelled, running forwards.

The group's sudden appearance gave the gorillas time to escape. Clayton looked towards Sora and the others, his gun still raised.

"Clayton?" Sora asked.

"Not Clayton!" Tarzan declared. "*&&X%! Not Clayton!"

Vanitas pulled out his Colt and aimed it at the heartless.

"Who cares?" Vanitas asked. "Just fight?"

Vanitas shot at one heartless while Tarzan lunged at another one with his spear. Sora towards Clayton, who had spread out his arms and was yelling. Sora attacked Clayton with a combo, knocking him aside. He did this a couple more times while the others fought the heartless. Vanitas grabbed one, shot it in its neck, and threw it towards Goofy, who knocked it onto a ledge, hard, with his shield. Donald blasted fire at one heartless before blasting some at Clayton. Vanitas held his Colt in his left hand and pulled his bat out of his sling with his right hand, standing with Sora and Tarzan, staring down Clayton.

Clayton pointed his gun at them with his back to the cliff face. All of a sudden, he raised his gun up into the air, and calmly stared at them as the cliff face was destroyed. Tarzan rushed forward, but then the sound of a lizzard appeared somewhere and he was knocked back. Sora and Vanitas watched him fly back, before turning to face Clayton again. He was in the air, raised up on something that they figured was an invisible heartless. He checked his gun, and held it in both hands again.

Vanitas, Sora, and Tarzan got out of the way as Clayton tried shooting at them. Unfortunately, Donald and Goofy got hit, and they were knocked unconscious. Sora tried attacking the invisible heartless with a combo, but it rushed forward and knocked him aside. Vanitas figured it would be safe to keep his distance, so he shot at it with his Colt. After Sora got his senses back, he and Tarzan joined in on attacking the invisible heartless. After enough attacks, the invisibility was lowered, and they could see the heartless.

The heartless looked like a giant green chameleon with spikes black claws, spiked ridges along its back, and a big horn on its head. This, however, helped their cause. Now they could actually see where to hit it.

After a few more combos from Sora, along with some smacking from Vanitas' bat, the heartless fell down in pain, with Clayton yelling at it. After attacking it once more, the heartless then fell unconscious to the ground, and dropped Clayton.

Tarzan healed Donald and Goofy with magic. The three of them attacked the heartless while Sora and Vanitas ran after Clayton. Sora attacked the man with combos, while Vanitas knocked him around with his bat. They managed to knock the hunter aside a lot of times during the attack.

Meanwhile, the heartless had recovered and started walking towards Clayton. Tarzan, Donald, and Goofy managed to keep attacking it as it walked, though. Donald did enough spells to make it slow down, Goofy attacked in different ways with his shield, and Tarzan lunged and whacked at it with his spear. They managed to do a great amount of damage to the heartless.

Sora and Vanitas, however, were barely giving Clayton time to breathe. The second the hunter stood back up, one of them would rush in, attack with their weapon, and knock him aside again. This went on until Clayton had been beaten a very good amount.

Clutching his side, Clayton backed up so he was standing in the little area where the cliff face used to be. He raised his gun towards them as the heartless spazzed out behind him. He turned around to see it raise above him, as electricity originated around it. The hunter screamed as the heartless fell on top of him. The group watched on, Vanitas with his eyes wide, as light originated from the heartless, dispelling its heart. The heartless disappeared, taking Clayton with it.

"Huh," Vanitas said. "We just killed someone."

He turned towards his counterparts.

"Well," he continued, nonchalantly. "We're going to hell."

Meanwhile, Sora breathed out as he felt himself learn new magic. Now, he knew Cure.

The group gathered below a smaller cliff face as Kerchak walked towards them. Sora grew confused when the head gorilla grabbed him by the shoulder. Then he screamed as Kerchak threw him high into the air. He landed on top of the small cliff with a grunt, quickly followed by Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas, who Kerchak had thrown up just like Sora.

Tarzan, meanwhile, just climbed up the vines. The others walked over to the ledge and watched with Tarzan as Kerchak and the other gorillas left the area. Once they were gone, the others followed Tarzan to the other side of the expanse to see a waterfall going into a lake.

"Tarzan, home," Tarzan told them.

The group went into a pathway and made their way up through the cavern until they found a small chamber with a tree trunk that had blue light originating in its center. Jane and Terk arrived after them.

"*&&X%," Tarzan told them again.

"This is your home?" Sora asked.

"Nice place," Vanitas said, nodding his head.

"But that means..." Sora said before he was stopped by Tarzan.

Tarzan held his hand to his ear, as if indicating them to listen.

"Huh?" Goofy asked.

"The waterfalls," Jane said. "They're echoing all the way here."

"*&&X%," Tarzan said again. "Friends there, see friends."

"Oh, now I get it," Jane said. "*&&X% means heart. Friends in our heart..."

"Heart," Tarzan agreed.

"Oh," Sora said in disappointment. "So that's what it meant."

"Friends, same heart," Tarzan explained. "Clayton, lose heart. No heart, no see friends. No heart, no friends."

Sora and Donald turned to look at each other.

"Sorry about what I said," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm sorry, too," Donald said.

"Yeah," Goofy said, as he put his arms around the two and Vanitas. "All for one, huh?"

"Watch it, man," Vanitas said. "I don't like physical contact."

Once Goofy let go, Sora walked over to the fading light and watched as the bright blue butterflies flew away, revealing a keyhole. He summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole. Stars flew into the tip, and light shot out into the keyhole. Light surrounded the keyhole and some of the vines around, and the sound of a lock clicked in the air. The light died down, the keyhole disappeared, and a gummi piece fell to the ground.

"A gummi!" Donald exclaimed.

"But it's sure not the king's," Goofy said as Donald looked down in sadness.

"How many of these are we gonna find?" Vanitas asked.

Terk then went next to Donald and pushed her head against Donald's shoulder, catching the duck's attention.

"I think someone has a new admirer," Jane said, teasingly.

Goofy laughed while Donald looked in confusion. Once he understood, he freaked out.

"No, no, no, no!" Donald exclaimed. "Daisy would kill me!"

This caused Sora, Goofy, and even the stone faced Vanitas, to burst out laughing.

They did a small goodbye back at the tent.

"Well," Sora said. "Guess we'd better get going."

"Places we gotta go," Vanitas said. "People to see."

"Where is your ship, anyway?" Jane asked.

"Well," Donald said, nervously. "Uh... not too far."

"Smooth," Vanitas whispered to the duck.

Tarzan spoke up, "Sora, Tarzan, friends."

And with that, they were off.

* * *

Back on the ship, they decided to talk.

"The gummi block that came out of that glowing hole," Sora said. "It's not like the others. Wonder what it's used for."

"I dunno," Donald admitted.

"I've seen these types before," Vanitas admitted. "But I don't know any more than you guys."

"Maybe Leon'll know," Goofy suggested.

"Hmm," Donald thought about it. "He might. Back to Traverse Town, then?"

"I wanna be pilot!" Sora declared.

"Do you even know how to fly this thing?" Vanitas asked.

"I can learn," Sora admitted as he grabbed his part of the console again.

"Hey, stop it!" Donald yelled.

"Oh, come on!" Sora whined. "I'm the Keyblade master."

Vanitas was sure he had heard the phrase "Keyblade Master" before, and was completely sure that Sora wasn't Master level with his Keyblade, yet.

"I don't care who you are!" Donald interjected. "No!"

"Oh, boy..." Vanitas said.

"Here we go again..." Goofy agreed.

Vanitas and Goofy sighed out as the ship shook violently as it flew through space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I have Vanitas' powers come back in various bursts here and there until he gets back his life force.


	9. Hero training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang lands on a world where Sora receives training from someone Vanitas swears he's seen before

On the way to Traverse Town, the group ended up coming across a new world that looked like a giant coliseum. They figured Leon wasn't going anywhere, and had enough time to check it out. So, they flew to it.

They walked through a doorway into the coliseum courtyard, all of them impressed by the giant statues crossing their swords. Vanitas paused after a second of looking.

"What's wrong?" Goofy asked, noticing how Vanitas stiffed up.

"Nothing," Vanitas said. "It's just... I feel like I've been here before."

"Maybe you were," Sora suggested. "But forgot because of the amnesia."

While Vanitas had already put that together in his head, he didn't feel like reprimanding Sora for stating the obvious at the moment.

Instead, he joined the group as they turned forward again and went up to the front doors. They walked inside, and ended up in a lobby. There were shelves with trophies, a giant pedestal on the right side, a blocked off entryway in front of them, and on the left side, a goat man hybrid working on a chart while standing on a small column. While Vanitas could swear that he had seen the goat somewhere before, they walked up and tried to talk to him.

"Um..." Sora tried saying.

"Good timing," the satyr said, still looking at the board. "Give me a hand, will ya?"

He pointed at the pedestal, "Move that pedestal over there for me? I gotta spruce this place up for the games."

"I don't think we're who he thinks we are," Vanitas muttered to his companions.

Sora, meanwhile, figured he'd try to help out the satyr. He ran over to one side of the pedestal and tried pushing it, but ended up just walking in place while pressing his arms against the heavy pedestal.

"It weighs a ton!" Sora told his friends.

Vanitas just stared at it. Something told him that _he _should be able to move that thing easily, but he knew that he couldn't. It's not like he had super strength.

Sora gave up on the pedestal after a second and just walked back over to the satyr.

"It's way too heavy!" Sora told him.

"What?" the satyr asked in disbelief. "Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little..."

He turned around, just now noticing they weren't who he thought he was. Since standing on the column made him taller than Sora, he looked down at the boy.

"Phil?" Vanitas whispered.

"Oh," the satyr said, annoyed. "Wrong guy. What're you doing here?"

He jumped off the column and walked forwards as he talked.

"This here's the world famous Coliseum," Phil continued, making Donald back up as he walked towards the duck. "Heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pipsqueaks."

Sora and Vanitas both looked at the goat in annoyance. He, however, looked at Vanitas curiously.

"Have we met?" Phil asked.

"Never," Vanitas claimed.

After a second of thinking things over, he faced the group and put his hands on his hips.

"Look," Phil continued. "It's like this."

He continued as he walked towards the pedestal.

"Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum."

Donald angrily crossed his arms at the goat.

"You've got heroes standing right in front of you," he declared.

"Yup," Goofy claimed, putting his hands on Sora's shoulders, causing the boy to smile. "He's a real hero chosen by the Keyblade!"

"And I'm a tough fighter from the Order of Light," Vanitas said, continuing with his lie.

"And we're heroes, too," Donald continued.

"Hero?" Phil asked, holding in a laugh. "That runt?"

He laughed hysterically at the idea.

"You little shit," Vanitas told Phil.

"What's so funny?" Sora asked with equal offense in his voice. "I've fought a bunch of monsters!"

Phil finally stopped laughing and gestured to the pedestal.

"Hey," he said, trying to push it. "If you can't even move this..."

He trailed off as he failed at trying to push it. The others just stared at him.

"... You can't call yourself..." Phil continued as he tried putting his back into it, still failing.

Sora crossed his arms, and Vanitas and Donald had to fight to contain their smirks.

"... A hero!" Phil yelled, trying as hard as he could to move the pedestal.

Vanitas put his hand up to hide his laugh as Phil fell to the ground and started coughing and breathing heavily.

"Okay, it takes more than brawn," he said as he got up, still breathing heavily. "Well, well, let's see what you can do."

The group walked forward so they were in front of Phil.

"This trial is tough," he told Sora. "You got what it takes? You ready?"

"I'm ready!" Sora told him.

"Okay, kid," Phil said. "Let's see what you've got."

He turned to Vanitas.

"What about you?" he asked.

Vanitas removed his sling and jacket, showing Phil his tattooed, muscled arms.

"I think I'm alright," Vanitas said.

"Okay," Phil said, actually looking impressed.

They moved into the coliseum, where Phil made Sora go to work by attacking barrels. Using his Keyblade, he managed to take out about twenty in thirty seconds. He had to use a variety of combos to smash them to pieces. Unsurprisingly, Phil wasn't impressed.

Sora got to the next level, where he had to take out twenty five in a minute, but the barrels were more scattered around. First he had to actually find the barrels, then destroy them with combos, and even use fire magic to take out one out of reach. This, actually impressed Phil a little bit, which he showed when they were back in the lobby.

"You know," Phil said as Sora was scratching the back of his head. "You ain't bad, kid."

Sora chuckled. "Looks like I'm heading for the games."

"Afraid not," Phil said, his hands on his hips.

This caused Sora, Donald, and Vanitas to lean forwards in disbelief.

"Why not?" Sora asked.

"Two words," Phil said, holding up his hand. "You guys ain't heroes!"

Goofy counted the number of words on his fingers.

"Come on!" Sora said as Phil turned away from them, and Donald looked down in defeat.

"You Danny DeVito sounding little shit!" Vanitas declared.

_Seriously, why does this guy sound like Danny DeVito?_ Vanitas thought.

Phil turned back towards them.

"Wanna become a real hero?" he asked. "Start by mastering this spell."

Sora felt energy rush through him. Now he knew Thunder magic.

The group left the lobby, anger on their faces as they walked across the courtyard. Halfway down, they were stopped by a man's sighing. They turned around to see a blue skinned man with blue fire where his hair should have been, wearing black robes, was smiling at them.

"Rather a stubborn old goat," the man said. "Wouldn't you say?"

"Who are you?" Donald asked.

_And why do YOU look familiar, too?_ Vanitas thought.

"Whoa, hold on, there, fuzz boy," the man said as he walked towards them. 'Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"

He stood behind Sora and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, looking down at him.

"Well, then, hey," he continued. "Get a load of this."

He held his hand in front of Sora's head. He made a sound as he made a piece of paper appear in his hand.

"A pass?" Sora asked.

"It's all yours," the man said, giving it to Sora before he started to walk away. "Good luck, kid. I'm pulling for you, you little shorty."

Before he had disappeared, though, the man and Vanitas both stared at each other, each one swearing they've seen the other before in not pleasant circumstances. But, they just shook it off, and the man left.

"Well," Vanitas said as he turned to his companions. "I guess this'll be interesting."

"You said it," Goofy said.

"Let's go," Sora said.

The group turned towards the front doors, and ran towards the lobby.


	10. Preliminary Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy try their luck in the starter Games

"Hey," Phil said, looking over the pass the group had presented to him. "How'd you get this?"

"Not important," Vanitas said with a wave of his hand.

"Can we enter the games now?" Sora asked.

"Well," Phil said, uncertainly. "I guess so. We start with the preliminaries!"

Vanitas looked over to Donald and Goofy and pumped his fist. They understood the gesture and nodded at him, just as he was looking away.

"Ready for the preliminaries?" Phil asked.

_Why is he asking? _Vanitas thought. _We're very clearly ready._

"Yeah, let's go!" Sora answered.

"Some real weirdos signed up for the games," Phil warned. "Better watch yourself."

"Real weirdos, huh?" Vanitas asked, looking towards his companions. "I wonder what they are."

Sora and Donald understood the sarcasm. Goofy did not.

"Well," he said. "I'm pretty sure they might be heartless."

Vanitas looked at Goofy.

"I understood that," Vanitas reprimanded the dog. "Sarcasm... idiot."

The group followed Phil through the coliseum hallways to a courtyard with a battle ground that looked familiar to Vanitas. They walked into the center where there was tile and stood on it. A barricade came up and encased the group inside. Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons while Vanitas held his machete in his left hand, and his Glock in his right hand.

The four of them stood in battle stances as heartless appeared in front of them. Four Soldiers, and three blue, flying elementals. The heartless charged again, and Sora jumped out of the way. Vanitas slashed at one blue one with his machete and took it out. Donald used Thunder and hit more than a few heartless. Sora ran back in in time and took out a couple of Soldiers with combo attacks. Goofy smacked a Soldier with his shield, and Vanitas finished it off by pointing his Glock into the opening of its helmet and pulling the trigger. Donald shot fire at another blue one, and Sora finished off the last soldier with one more combo.

They met up with Phil in before the next match started.

"You're no heroes yet," he told them. "But you ain't doing bad. Lucky you came to me for coaching."

"Sure has a high opinion of himself," Vanitas muttered to Sora.

Sora shook his head at Vanitas' comment, and turned to see the nearby door open up. A spikey haired blonde man in varied armor and a cape that covered some of the lower half of his head walked through. He and Sora regarded stared at each other as he walked by. The group stared back at him as he kept walking.

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat," Phil told them, crossing his arms. "Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him."

"Maybe," Vanitas said.

They did the next match, taking out nearly a dozen Shadows, along with a few nocturnals of varying color. They met up with Phil again.

"Say," he said. "You're better than I thought, kid! Wish he was here to see this."

"Who?" Sora asked.

"Hercules," Phil answered.

Vanitas paused at that, sure he had heard that name somewhere before.

"He's a hero if there ever was one," Phil continued. "Too bad he's off visiting his father."

They got through the next few rounds easily, got chewed out by Phil a couple of times, and never noticed the man from earlier giving the blonde man a pep talk. When they went up to start the final match, the blonde man stood ready with a large sword.

"Final match!" the announcer that they just noticed called out. "Cloud!"

The group figured that was the blonde man's name.

Sora and Vanitas ran around Cloud in an arc, and he swiped at Donald and Goofy twice, knocking out Donald, and hurting Goofy. Sora attacked with his Keyblade, which Cloud blocked. Luckily, Sora managed to keep up with the combo, even when he kept blocking. Sora even managed to keep himself safe by also attacking when Cloud was attacking him. He even managed to block it when Cloud did a rush forward attack and ended up behind Sora.

"Home run, bitch!" Vanitas yelled as he hit Cloud in the head with his baseball bat.

This actually managed to knock back Cloud a bit, but he recovered quickly.

"Oh, shit," Vanitas muttered when he saw the way Cloud glared at him.

Vanitas started backflipping away as Cloud slashed at him multiple times with his sword. This gave Sora the opening he needed. He rushed in and attacked with multiple combos. Goofy even helped by whacking the blonde with his shield. Unfortunately, Cloud immediately retaliated. He slashed at Goofy, knocking him out. Sora used Cure to heal some wounds he got from the earlier matches, then used Cure to wake Donald back up.

Now awake, Donald blasted fire at Cloud, which he just shrugged off. He slid in with a stab with his sword, knocking back Sora, who exclaimed in pain.

"Hey!" Vanitas called out, running towards Cloud from behind.

Cloud turned around, and ducked Vanitas's attack just in time. He then straightened up again and knocked the metal bat out of Vanitas's hand with his sword. He slashed at Vanitas with his sword, which Vanitas managed to duck. Now that he was crouched down, Vanitas spun around, side kicking Cloud's leg, knocking it out from under him. He lost his balance, which granted Vanitas the opportunity to stand up and sucker punch the man. Cloud recovered quickly, and hit Vanitas with the flat of his blade, knocking him back.

"Is that the best you can do?" Cloud taunted them.

Donald had used Cure to help Goofy up again by now. Vanitas jumped up and pulled out his katana, holding it in both hands as he stood ready with his f... companions.

Cloud made another swipe at Goofy, which Vanitas intercepted with his katana. With Cloud distracted, Sora ran in and did combo attacks with his Keyblade, while Donald blasted the man with Fire and Thunder magic. Goofy attacked one more time with his shield, and Sora ended the battle with another combo.

Cloud rested on one knee while Phil cheered with the crowd the group just noticed was there. Sora and Vanitas walked forward as Cloud was picking himself up. He turned around suddenly, and everyone in the arena was shocked.

A giant, black furred, three headed dog stepped on Cloud!

Sora gasped as everyone backed up in fear. The dog pulled back its three heads before bringing them together in an attack. He stopped suddenly when a muscled man appeared and forced him up.

"Herc!" Phil yelled from the stands.

"Phil," Hercules called out, looking over his shoulder towards them. "Get them out of here!"

Phil followed his orders, and led the group back into the coliseum lobby. Luckily, the people in the crowds had disappeared as well, so they weren't in danger.

They managed to put themselves back together in the lobby.

"Whew," Phil said, catching his breath, holding his arms. "That was close! That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him."

His mood shifted.

"But then again," he continued. "Maybe not... This doesn't look good."

The group of four nodded their heads at each other, for once in mutual understanding. They turned and started running towards the door, into the coliseum.

"Kid," Phil stopped them. "You're not entering the arena, are ya? This ain't just some match. This is for real!"

"I'm not afraid," Sora told him.

"Trust me," Vanitas told him. "We've been through worse."

"You can decide if I'm hero material or not," Sora told Phil as they continued into the arena.

"Careful, kid!" they heard Phil say behind them.

They ran into the arena, drawing Cerberus's attention away from Hercules, who was carrying Cloud over his shoulder. The group stood in their battle stances, Sora with his Keyblade, Donald with his staff, Goofy with his shield, and Vanitas with his shotgun. Cerberus walked towards them, ready to attack. This gave Hercules the chance to escape with Cloud.

"Kid," the group heard Phil call out behind them. "I've got two words of advice for you: Attack!"

Goofy had just enough time to think _Two words? _before they had to start running from Cerberus's attacks of blasting giant fireballs out of his mouth. Vanitas repeatedly shot his shotgun and pumped it again as he ran around. Donald managed to jump up and attack one of the heads with his staff, and fell in just enough time to block another fireball. Once he had let up with the fireballs, Sora jumped up and attacked with combo attacks, quickly getting out of the way.

Cerberus stopped, and was preparing for another attack, but he was so slow, he gave the others time to attack him a bit. Sora did a combo, Vanitas emptied his shotgun into one of the heads, Goofy whacked with his shield, and Donald attacked with his staff. Once Cerberus had lowered his head, though, they all had to get out of the way of the dog heads biting at them. Unfortunately, Goofy got bit.

_Talk about dogs not getting along_, Vanitas thought as he pulled more ammo out of a pouch in his jacket pocket.

When the coast was clear, Sora jumped in and did a combo attack with his Keyblade before he jumped back, as Cerberus was biting with that head again. Unfortunately, Donald got bit this time. In retaliation, Vanitas ran in close and shot Cerberus point blank with his shotgun. This proved to be a mistake as Cerberus grabbed him by his left arm in one of his mouths, and picked him up. It shook him a bit before it threw him aside.

Vanitas grunted as he landed on his back. He pulled up his sleeve and examined his arm wound. It looked very bad, and looked like it should be gushing out blood. However, no blood came out of the wound, and he couldn't feel any kind of pain when his sleeve touched it. Vanitas sighed out, remembering this came with the territory of not having a life force. He rolled the sleeve back down, and stood up.

Cerberus was walking around blasting fireballs again. Donald was healing Goofy, waking him back up. Sora was standing nearby, looking at Vanitas in worry.

"I'm fine," Vanitas told him as he picked up his shotgun. He pumped it with his left hand. "Let's keep at it."

The dog had stopped again, giving Sora another chance to jump up and attacking with his combo attacks. Vanitas managed to get Cerberus a few times with his shotgun before the dog pulled back and... barfed darkness into the ground.

The group had to keep running as little circles of darkness appeared below them and tried rising up in attacks. Everyone got hit once or twice, but nothing too major. Once the dark circles stopped appearing, they managed to wail on Cerberus' heads for a little bit before he pulled his head back. He barfed the darkness into the ground, and the group had to dodge the darkness raising up into the ground again. Unfortunately, this time, Goofy got knocked out again.

Once the darkness stopped, Cerberus tried resting down and biting them with his three mouths again. Sora rushed in with combos, Vanitas shot at it with his gun, Donald healed Goofy, and once he was awake, they joined in with their staff and shield. Within seconds, they managed to finish off Cerberus.

Having had enough, Cerberus fell to the ground unconscious, his three necks tangled into a mess. The group panted in exhaustion, happy to be finished.

"What happened to your arm?" Sora asked Vanitas.

The other two turned to look at Vanitas at that remark. Seeing that there was no way out of this, Vanitas slid his sleeve up his arm, showing off the bad wound that still wasn't bleeding. His companions gasped in surprise.

"Why isn't it bleeding?" Sora asked.

"And why don't you look hurt?" Goofy asked.

"That's the thing about not having a life force," Vanitas told them, looking down at his arm. "Your heart can't pump blood through your veins, so why would your wounds bleed? You don't have a pulse, so why would you feel pain?"

"But," Sora said. "You've grunted before, when you got hit."

"Saving face," Vanitas explained. "Don't want to give off the image of a zombie. While the not having to feel pain can _sometimes _be helpful, other times... it just makes me feel less... human."

After pausing for a second, Donald raised his staff, which flared green light. Green appeared along Vanitas' arm, and the wound slowly disappeared. Vanitas looked at Donald in confusion.

"Just because you don't feel pain," he explained. "Doesn't mean we don't have to heal your wounds. That way, you can still feel human."

Vanitas stared at the duck for a second in consideration.

"Fuck off," Vanitas said as he turned around and started walking towards the exit of the arena.

"I think that's the closest I'll ever get to a 'thank you'," Donald muttered to Sora and Goofy.

They chuckled as they followed Vanitas to the arena exit.

The group stood facing Phil, who was standing on the little column from earlier, Hercules standing on his left side.

"Thus," Phil read off a paper to the group. "I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further..."

"Hey!" Donald angrily interrupted him. "What do you mean, 'junior heroes'?"

Phil looked at them. "You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero."

"I do," Vanitas said, causing everyone to look at him. "Or at least, I did. I got amnesia, so I don't remember anything past the last ten years."

"So," Goofy turned towards Phil and Hercules. "What does it take?"

"Well," Hercules said. "That's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did."

"No problem," Sora said, confidently. "We'll start by proving ourselves in the games."

"There ain't gonna be any games for a while," Phil told them. "Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first."

"Okay," Sora waved as the group started leaving. "We'll be back."

Hercules waved back as the four of them walked out the door.

"Well," Vanitas said. "It was nice to see those guys again."

"You've met them?" Donald asked.

"I think so," Vanitas said. "I think... before I lost my memories."

"Well that must've been nice," Sora told him. "Seeing your old friends again."

"Yeah," Vanitas said, not seriously. "Nice."

They walked to the exit doors to see Cloud sitting down on the steps.

"Hey," Sora said. "Are you all right?"

He looked up at them.

"Yeah," he said, in a tone Vanitas recognized as disbelief.

"So," Sora said. "Why did you go along with him, anyway?"

They had been all briefed that the same man that had given them the pass was Hades. The lord of the dead that had also hired Cloud into joining the games specifically to take out Hercules.

Cloud looked down, putting the backs of his hands over his mouth.

"I'm looking for someone," he told them. "Hades promised to help."

"Desperation," Vanitas commented. "To find the people you care about. We know the feeling."

"I tried to exploit the power of darkness," Cloud said as he stood up. "But it backfired." He looked up. "I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."

"You'll find it," Sora reassured Cloud. He looked down to Sora. "I'm searching, too."

"For your light?" Cloud asked.

Sora nodded. Cloud walked forward and raised his hand, offering something to Sora.

"Don't lose sight of it," he finished as Sora took what Cloud was offering him. He now knew Sonic Blade.

Cloud walked past them, towards the coliseum. Sora and Vanitas turned to watch him walk away.

"How 'bout a rematch some time?" Sora asked as he raised his hand. "Fair and square, no dark powers involved."

Cloud stopped and looked over his shoulder at them.

"I think I'll pass," he said as he flicked his hair aside.

The grin never left Sora's face, and a smirk appeared on Vanitas's.

"My kind of prick," Vanitas commented.

"Of course he is," Donald chuckled.

The group turned and walked out the gates, heading to the gummi ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really think it's a good idea for me to separate the worlds into more than one chapter in this one. This might change during Re: Chain of Memories since the storyline for the worlds is almost basically the same: go there, meet people, fight a boss


	11. The Keyhole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now back in Traverse Town, the gang learns the truth about the Keyholes, then meet some magical new friends

The group flew to Traverse Town next, ready to find Leon and ask him about what they hoped he knew. Their first stop was the Accessory Shop, where they could find Cid. They figured he knew where he was.

They ran into the shop, but Cid wasn't behind the counter. However, next to the counter was a small boy curled into a ball. An item was next to him on the floor. Upon sight of this boy, Jiminy jumped out of Sora's jacket hood and onto his shoulder.

"Well, well," he chuckled. "As I live and breathe! If it isn't Pinocchio!"

Jiminy jumped onto the floor in front of the boy. It was at this moment that they noticed the boy was a human sized puppet.

"Oh," Pinocchio happily said, getting onto his hands and knees. "Hi, Jiminy."

_Well, we've seen weirder, _Vanitas thought, tilting his head at the wooden boy. _So why not?_

"What in the world are you doing down here?" Jiminy asked the boy.

"Um..." Pinocchio thought for a second. "Playing hide-and-seek."

Jiminy sighed, walking in little circles in front of Pinocchio.

"I just don't believe it," he said. "And here I was, up all night, just worried sick about you. Why of all the..."

Jiminy stopped walking and looked up at Pinocchio, just as the boy's nose emitted a white light.

"Pinocchio!" Jiminy said as the boy's nose extended.

"The fuck?" Vanitas muttered, confused.

For once, Vanitas's companions agreed with his swear filled comments.

"Pinocchio!" Jiminy exclaimed. "Are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes!" Pinocchio insisted.

"Then tell me," Jiminy said, gesturing to the item next to the boy. "What is this?"

"It was a present," Pinocchio told him.

"No fibbing, now!" Jiminy exclaimed. "You know you're not supposed to tell lies. A lie only grows and grows, 'til you get caught. Plain as the nose on your face!"

"That's stupid," Vanitas commented. "Literally everyone lies, everywhere."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy gave Vanitas annoyed looks.

"Hey," Vanitas said, mockingly raising his hands in surrender. "I'm just speaking the truth."

If only the others knew about the big lie Vanitas had told them when they first met.

"Anyway," Jiminy continued, looking back at Pinocchio. "You get the point I'm trying to make."

"But if you want something," Pinocchio started. "Why wait? Why not just take it?"

"Oh, my!" Jiminy exclaimed. "Who told you that? You need some advice from your conscience!"

"That's right!" Pinocchio agreed. "You're my conscience, Jiminy! I'll never tell lies as long as you're around."

With that, a light appeared at the tip of Pinocchios nose, and it shrank back down to normal size.

"You need to be good so you can become a real boy," Jiminy reminded him. "You promised Geppetto you would be, right?"

"Oh!" Pinocchio exclaimed. "Do you know where Father is?"

"He's not with you?" Jiminy asked.

"Jiminy," Pinocchio said. "Let's go find Father!"

"Now, hold on!" Jiminy exclaimed. "There are all sorts of dangers and temptations out there! I'll go find Geppetto, so you just wait here."

He turned to the group before continuing. "These fellows here will be helping me."

"We will?" Sora and Vanitas asked at the same time. This caused the two to look at each other, confused.

"Well, shall we go, Sora?" Jiminy asked as Pinocchio stood up.

"You could have asked us first..." Sora complained.

Since Cid still wasn't in the shop, they left and decided to try to find Leon on their own.

"Wait a minute," Vanitas said in realization.

"What is it?" Donald asked.

"I just remembered," Vanitas said, looking at his companions. "Where Leon usually spends his time training."

They followed Vanitas into the Alleyway towards the drainage pipes, taking out heartless along the way.

"Well, what do we do now?" Goofy asked.

"Use your heads," Vanitas answered.

They didn't think he meant literally. The group charged at the pipes one at a time, Donald, Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy. They all crashed into the pipes, and once Goofy crashed in with the others, the pipes were smashed down.

"Ow," Sora exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Eh, what are you gonna do?" Vanitas asked, spreading his arms.

They walked into the drain, and swam through the water into a small cavern. Once they got to a rock shore, they found Leon swinging his gunblade in practice, Aerith standing nearby. The group ran towards their friends and explained the keyhole and gummi pieces.

"So you found the keyhole," Leon observed.

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed, crossing his arms. "It was honestly easier than I expected for us to do."

"The Keyblade locked it automatically," Sora continued.

"Good," Aerith said.

"Every world among the stars has a keyhole," Leon explained.

"Can't believe we forgot to mention this part earlier," Vanitas commented.

Leon thought about that for a second.

"You know what?" he asked, looking at Vanitas. "Neither can I."

Leon looked back towards Sora.

"Anyway," he continued. "Each keyhole leads to the heart of those worlds. There must be one in this town as well."

What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"It was in Ansem's report," Aerith told them.

Vanitas thought about that for a second, thinking maybe that was part of Xehanort's report. He was mentally wondering how much of the report Ansem had actually written.

Leon continued. "The heartless enter through the keyhole and do something to the world's core."

"What happens to the world?" Sora asked.

"You already saw," Vanitas told him, looking at him sympathetically.

"In the end," Aerith said. "It disappears."

"What!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy all said at once.

"That's why the Keyblade is so important," Vanitas told Sora. "You lock the keyholes, and protect the worlds from darkness."

"Please lock the keyholes," Aerith begged. "You're the only one who can."

"I don't know..." Sora said, uncertainly.

"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well," Leon told Sora.

"Yeah!" both Donald and Vanitas said at once. This led to the two to look at each other in annoyance.

"We gotta find your friends!" Goofy reminded Sora. "And King Mickey!"

Vanitas paused for a second, sure he had heard that name somewhere before.

"I guess you're right..." Sora said. "Okay!"

Everyone nodded their heads, glad to be on the same page.

"Oh, Leon," Sora suddenly remembered. "This gummi block's different from the others. Do you know what it's for?"

Leon just stood there with his hand on his face.

"Ask Cid," Aerith said. "He should know."

After a few seconds, Leon finally took his hand off his face.

"Wait, Sora," he said. "Take this with you."

He handed Sora a stone.

"This stone holds some mysterious power," Leon told them. "I've been carrying it for luck. I want you to hold onto it."

"How do you use it?" Sora asked.

At this, Leon just closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Uh, Leon?" Vanitas asked.

He just stayed quiet, so the group went back to the Accessory Shop. This time, Cid was behind the counter, so they asked him about the pieces.

"What've you got there?" Cid asked, looking at the pieces they presented to him. "Hey! Well, if it ain't a gummi block."

"Yup," Donald agreed.

"What's this one for?" Goofy asked.

"You're kiddin' me!" Cid exclaimed. "You're flyin' a gummi ship and you don't know nothin' about navigation gummis? Bunch of pinheads. Interspace ain't no playground."

"Dick head," Vanitas said.

"There's a lot we don't know," Sora said. "So what!"

He continued as he held up the Keyblade.

"We have to use the gummi ship to go to other worlds. We don't have a choice."

He lowered the Keyblade.

"Whoa," Cid said. "Easy."

"Don't see that happening anytime soon," Vanitas commented.

"I didn't know," Cid said, scratching the back of his head with his right hand. "No hard feelings, all right? Well, I guess I could lend ya'll a hand, then."

"Thanks," Sora said.

Sora dismissed his Keyblade, and the group listened to Cid, even Vanitas, who already knew what the man was telling them.

"Basically," Cid explained. "With navigation gummis, you can go to new places. You want one on your ship, right?"

Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas nodded.

"I'll install it for you," Cid said. "But I got this thing I gotta go deliver first."

"What do you need to deliver?" Sora asked, curious.

"Just this book," Cid said, holding up a book.

Vanitas looked at the book curiously, convinced he had seen it somewhere before.

"It's real old," Cid continued. "When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore it to the way it was. But overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together. Anyway, you mind deliverin' it for me? It's the old house past the Third District. Look for a big fire sign."

"That's what that door leads to?" Vanitas asked as Sora took the book.

"Yep," Cid told them.

All of a sudden, the ground shook, and a bell went off somewhere.

"Wh-what was that?" Sora asked, confused.

"Oh, that's the bell above the gizmo shop," Vanitas said, waving his arm. "It's pretty powerful of a thing."

"Go check it out if you want," Cid told them. "But deliver that book for me first. When you're done stop by the house in the Third District. I'll be there."

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas said with a small smirk. "Our secret hideout."

After a slew of smiles, the group made their way to the Third District. After fighting off waves of Soldiers, Nocturnals, Shadows, and Air Soldiers, the group made the way to the doorway.

"How do we open this thing?" Goofy asked.

"I think I've got it," Vanitas said.

He raised his hand, fire appearing in his palm. He pressed his hand and the fire into the door, and it made a noise like something had succeeded, and the door opened for them.

The door led to a cavern outside of town. Across a small lake stood a small island that had a magical looking house. There were three big rocks in the water that the group figured were supposed to be path stones. They jumped across the stones, and walked around the side to see a smashed down wall. They pushed aside the curtain covering the wall and walked inside, into a very empty room. Besides a stone diaz in the center with stairs leading up to it, there was nothing in the room. Even though there was nothing in the room, the group still spread out around to investigate.

After a few seconds of looking, Vanitas turned towards Sora, who was staring intently at a wall.

"Kairi?" he asked, reaching towards the wall.

"Sora?" Goofy asked.

Sora turned around to see the others looking at him curiously. Donald was even standing on one of the stairs so he could get a better view of the boy. Sora turned back towards the wall and was very surprised by... nothing. Nothing was there.

"Are you high?" Vanitas asked him.

"He's not high," Goofy said, gesturing to Sora. "He's right here."

"Different meaning," Vanitas tried explaining.

"Well, well," a new voice announced.

The group turned to see that a man in blue robes with a very long silver beard, carrying a brown bag, and holding a long stick was standing next to the curtain.

"You've arrived sooner than I expected," he said.

Vanitas gasped, recognizing the man. Sora walked over to the man.

"Wha..." he said. "You knew we were coming?"

"Of course," he said as Goofy walked towards the man, and Donald walked up the remaining stairs.

"Are you..." Sora started. "A heartless?"

"You idiot," Vanitas commented. "This is Merlin. A great sorcerer."

"Precisely," Merlin said, looking at Vanitas. His look quickly became sympathetic. "Things haven't been good to you since the last time we met, have they, Vanitas?"

Vanitas paused, not remembering much about the sorcerer, but at least remembering he had forgotten to tell him his name.

"It's..." Vanitas slowly said. "Been a very rough ten years."

"You two know each other?" Donald asked.

"Before the accident," Vanitas said, looking at the duck. "Before the amnesia."

The others nodded, understanding enough from just those two sentences.

"I spend much of my time traveling," Merlin told them. "It's good to be home. Your king requested my help."

"King Mickey?" Goofy asked.

"Yes, indeed," Merlin answered. As he talked, he looked toward each person. "Donald, Goofy. And who might you be, young man?"

"I'm Sora," Sora said.

"Ah," Merlin said. "So, you have found the key."

_Doesn't exactly mean he knows how to use it,_ Vanitas thought. _But I'm not gonna judge._

"What did the king ask you to do?" Donald asked.

"Just a moment..." Merlin said.

The group stood to the side as Merlin stood on the diaz. His bag was on the side.

"Presto!" Merlin exclaimed as he waved his wand.

Items came out of the bag, slowly growing until it was visible that they were pieces of furniture. They went around the room until it was a pretty well decorated home. A chalkboard was on the right to the door. Next to that was a very big pile of books and a lectern. Next to that was a bed. Next to that was some desks, then and even bigger pile of books. Next to that was a giant cupboard. And next to that, that was also on the left side of the door, was a small silver pumpkin carriage. On the diaz with them was a big chair, a rug on the floor, a table with a teacup and tea kettle, and nearby was a big torch for light.

"There, now," Merlin said. "Ahem."

He turned towards Sora and Donald, who stood with him on the diaz. Goofy and Vanitas stood on the lower level.

"Your king has asked me to train you in the art of magic," Merlin explained. "Let me know when you're ready to begin the training. Oh, and one more thing."

He turned to look at the pumpkin carriage, and the others followed his gaze. Blue lights appeared and flew towards the carriage. The carriage then erupted in blue light, and once it faded, a woman stood in its place. Vanitas tilted his head, sure he had seen this woman somewhere before as well.

"Hello," she announced. "I'm the Fairy Godmother. Your king asked me to help you, too. I will assist throughout your journey."

"Geez," Vanitas whispered to Goofy. "We're getting all kinds of help on this thing."

"I do not know how much I can be of help," Merlin continued. "But do stop by anytime."

"Actually," Sora said. "We're here to deliver you something from Cid."

He pulled out the book and presented it to Merlin.

"Oh, that book..." Merlin said.

Vanitas suddenly remembered this book. He had tried reading it before, and it flared light in his face.

"So, Cid asked you to bring this," Merlin continued. "Thank you. You wish to know what kind of book it is? I don't even know, myself. In fact, it's not mine. Somehow it found its way into my bag one day. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me. Well, I guess I'll put it somewhere, for now. This book holds a great secret. The missing pages will unlock it."

"I'll leave the book over there," he continued, pointing towards the lectern. "Do look at it whenever you like. My best regards to Cid for repairing it for me. Oh, and about that stone of yours... You should ask the Fairy Godmother about that."

So, they walked over to the Fairy Godmother and presented the stone to her.

"Do you know what this is?" Sora asked.

"Oh, the poor thing!" the Fairy Godmother said, looking at the stone. "He has turned into a summon gem."

"A summon gem?" Sora asked.

"What's that?" Vanitas added.

"This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness," the Fairy Godmother explained. "When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants. But this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world."

"Can he regain himself?" Sora asked.

"Yes," the Fairy Godmother answered. "But only his spirit. Now, watch!"

She waved her wand, exclaiming, "Bibbity Bobbity Boo!"

Magic flared. Sora now knew Summon Magic, meaning he could summon Simba to help in battle.

"Whenever you call," the Fairy Godmother told them. "He will help you. If you find any more of these, bring them to me. Don't worry, when their worlds are restored, they will return there. Sora, please help save them."

"Don't worry," Sora told her. "We will."

"We got this," Vanitas assured her.

The group turned to the curtain and walked out, now on the lookout to find more during their adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Being totally honest, the first time I ever played Kingdom Hearts, I imagined Cid speaking with a scratchy deep voice since he never spoke in a regular cutscene. To this day, I have trouble incorporating his voice in KHII in fanfiction and the reading cutscenes. I also did it backwards here the first time I ever played the game, doing the bell first and the book second. But hey, we all do things our own ways, right?


	12. Reunions and fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After meeting up with a friend, the group decides to check out the bell in the town.

The group walked into the Third District and was almost immediately stopped by two Soldiers popping up in front of them. The group got ready to fight, but they didn't need to when a boy that came out of nowhere slashed through the Soldiers with a sword. Sora's eyes widened at the sight of the boy.

"There you are," Riku said, smiling at Sora. "What's going on?"

"Riku!" Sora said, running towards his friend with his arms out.

Sora then grabbed Riku by his cheeks and yanked at them, annoying the silver haired boy.

"Hey, hey," Riku said, pushing aside Sora's arms. "Cut it out."

Sora looked at his friend up and down.

"I'm not dreaming this time," Sora started to ask. "Right?"

"I hope not," Riku said, brushing his hair away from his face. "Took forever to find you."

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed.

The group walked forwards, further into the Third District. Sora stopped suddenly in realization.

"Wait a second," Sora said. "Where's Kairi?"

"Isn't she with you?" Riku asked.

Sora looked down in disappointment.

"Well, don't worry," Riku said as he walked past Sora. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too."

He looked back at his friend briefly.

"We're finally free," Riku said, turning to look forwards again. He had looked up, not noticing the Shadow pop up on Sora's left. "Hey, she might even be looking for us now."

"We'll all be together again soon," Riku assured Sora, not looking back at him. "Don't worry. Just leave everything to me. I know this-"

He was cut off by the sound of the Keyblade slashing through the Shadow. RIku turned around to see his friend getting out of position of a slash. Sora turned around and looked at his friend, putting the Keyblade over his shoulder.

"Leave it to who?" he asked, cockily.

_Nice level of cockiness, kid_, Vanitas thought with a smile. The group walked forwards, closer to Sora.

"Sora," Riku said as Sora lowered his Keyblade. "What did you..."

"I've been looking for you," Sora told his friend. "And Kairi, too. With their help."

He looked over to Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas. Donald and Goofy nodded, and Vanitas just looked at him with a blank face.

"Who are they?" Riku asked.

"Ahem," Donald said. "My name is..."

"We've visited so many places and worlds," Sora interrupted Donald. "Looking for you."

"Really?" Riku asked, a blank look on his face, too. "Well, what do you know? I never would have guessed."

"He's not the best at using manners," Vanitas commented, looking at Sora, then back at Riku. "Was he always like this?"

Riku just stared at Vanitas with the blank look on his face. Vanitas raised an eyebrow, but continued to do his blank stare at Riku.

_So it's like that, huh? _Vanitas thought.

"Oh, and guess what?" Goofy said, putting his hands on Sora's shoulders from behind. Donald, meanwhile, walked behind Sora so now he was on Sora's left. "Sora's the Keyblade master."

Vanitas sighed, resolving that they were just gonna call him that even though it wasn't official.

"Who would've thought it?" Donald asked, annoyed. He was looking up at Sora with anger on his face.

"What's that mean!" Sora exclaimed, leaning down so he was face to face with Donald.

"Down, boys!" Vanitas yelled, like he was trying to calm down a crazy dog. "Down!"

"So," Riku said. "This is called a Keyblade?"

He held up the Kingdom Key, Sora's Keyblade. Vanitas looked at him in a mixture of surprise and confusion. He was pretty sure only the Keyblade's chosen one could summon it like that. How could this guy do it if the Keyblade chose Sora? Unless...

"Huh?" Sora asked. He looked in his hand to make sure he wasn't seeing things. "Hey, give it back!"

He ran forwards, but lost his balance when Riku backed up. This caused Sora to topple forwards onto his face. Riku, meanwhile, held the Kingdom Key up into the air, examining it.

"Catch!" Riku suddenly said.

He lowered the Keyblade, then tossed it to Sora, who was just getting up.

"Whoa!" Sora said as he caught the Keyblade.

Once he was sure he was okay, Sora looked up to Riku.

"Okay," he said. "So, you're coming with us, right? We've got this awesome rocket. Wait 'til you see it!"

Vanitas looked at Sora, surprised by the ignorance in the boy. He really didn't understand what the blank look on his friends face meant he probably wasn't happy about this?

_Really, Nomura? _Vanitas thought, looking up at the sky. _This is the kid who's supposed to save all the worlds?__ Couldn't he be less stupid?_

"No," Donald exclaimed. "He can't come!"

"What?" Sora asked, leaning down so they were eye level again.

"Forget it!" Donald stubbornly declared.

"Who put you in charge?" Vanitas commented.

"Oh, come on!" Sora exclaimed. "He's my friend!"

"I don't care!" Donald yelled.

Goofy and Vanitas briefly watched their argument for a second before they turned to see RIku again. Both were surprised, though.

"He's gone," Goofy told them.

Sora looked up to see that the dog was right.

"Riku?" he asked, looking around in confusion.

Sora walked forwards while Donald just crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

"Nice going," Sora told Donald.

"You really need to work on your people skills, Donnie," Vanitas told Donald.

"Oh, well," Sora said, putting his hands on the back of his head. "At least he's okay. And who knows? Maybe we'll run into Kairi soo, too."

Vanitas paused. He had a pulling sensation in his gut, like it was saying that something dark was nearby. This confused him, though. He chalked it up to just his training telling him danger was nearby. It's not like he could just surges of light or darkness, right?

"Well, let's find Cid," Donald said. "He said the house in the Third District, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas said. "Don't worry, I know this place."

Vanitas led them up the staircase and to the door they were pretty much in front of. They walked into the house, seeing Leon and the gang in a room with boxes, a couple of tables, and other forms of decoration around. They walked over to Cid and Leon. Aerith stood nearby, and Yuffie was on the other side of the room.

"You guys ever hear of Maleficent?" Cid asked Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

Sora shook his head.

"I hear she's in town," Cid said.

"Who is she?" Sora asked.

"A witch, man," Cid exclaimed, suddenly intense. "She's a witch!"

"She's the reason this town is full of heartless," Leon explained.

"The reason why all worlds have heartless," Vanitas corrected him.

"Don't take her lightly," Leon added.

"She's been using the heartless for years," Aerith added.

"We lost our world," Leon said. "Thanks to her."

"One day," Cid explained. "A swarm of heartless took over our world!"

"That was nine years ago," Leon added.

"I got out of that mess and came here with these guys," Cid said.

"Like you really had a choice," Yuffie joked.

Vanitas smiled.

"That's awful!" Donald declared.

"Hey," Vanitas said, jokingly. "We're not that bad company."

Donald looked at Vanitas like he was an idiot.

"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem," Leon said. "He dedicated his life to studying the heartless. Vanitas was one of his apprentices, and says that an apprentice names Xehanort was also at fault."

"His report should tell us how to get rid of the heartless," Cid said.

"The only problem is," Vanitas said. "Part of it was written by Xehanort. So, the question we need to ask is, the reports we find, how do we tell which ones were written by Xehanort, and which ones were written by Ansem?"

Everyone paused at that, as if just now realizing that was a possibility.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Sora said. "Where's this report?"

"We don't know," Leon said. "It got scattered when our world was destroyed."

"That was my fault," Vanitas said, raising a hand. "My dumb ass left it in the lab coat I wore, when I took it off."

"Well, at least you're aware," Donald said with snark.

"Anyway," Cid said. "I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages."

As the conversation went on, Vanitas paused in thought again. He remembered how the Keyblade had appeared in Riku's hand, when technically, it belonged to Sora. The only time he was sure he had ever seen that happen is if the Keyblade is in the hands of someone that it hadn't chosen. But that didn't make any sense. It was obvious that the Keyblade had chosen Sora. After all, it had stuck with him this whole time. Unless...

Maybe the Keyblade was sticking to Sora because it knew he could get it to its real chosen one. Maybe the Keyblade chose that Riku prick, and Sora was some sort of... delivery boy.

_No,_ Vanitas thought. _That's ridiculous. It's still with Sora, even though Riku had briefly taken it. So it made the right choice. Something about that kid felt... off._

"So," Cid suddenly said, breaking Vanitas out of his thoughts. "You delivered that book? That navigation gummi's installed and ready to go. You find another one, you bring it to me."

The four nodded at him, showing they understood.

"Well," Cid continued. "Better get back to my real job."

At their confused faces, he asked for them, "What's my real job? You'll see."

"He sells gummis" Vanitas told his companions.

The three of them looked at him and nodded their heads, Donald saying "Oh" in realization. Cid looked at Vanitas.

"Way to ruin the surprise," he told the younger man, angrily.

"Dude," Vanitas said. "It was kind of obvious."

Cid just sighed out and left the house.

"I've been thinking about the bell in the Second District," Aerith pulled the others' attention.

"The one that rang a bit ago?" Sora asked.

"The one above the gismo shop," Yuffie confirmed for them. "There's a legend about it, you know."

"But it's all boarded up," Aerith interjected. "Nobody can get in there."

"My friends," Vanitas said, reaching into his sling. "You underestimate me too often."

He pulled his fire axe out of his sling and gestured it to his friends. Once they understood, he put it back away.

"We should ring it three times," Vanitas told Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Why?" Sora asked.

"That seems to be the magic number," Vanitas told them. "I mean, think about it. With almost everything out there, there seems to be an obsession with the number three."

His companions thought about that for a second, before the realization came over their faces.

"See?" Vanitas asked, raising his arm.

"Let's go," Sora said. He, Donald, and Goofy ran out the door.

Vanitas stayed behind for a sec and walked over to Yuffie, who had separated herself from the others.

"Hey," Vanitas whispered, since it was still a small room. "So I made it back in once piece. So that does that mean...?"

Yuffie looked at him for a second, before she turned to look away from him and... shuddered?

_Oh, no,_ Vanitas thought. _She's having those thoughts I had that one time._

"Maybe," Yuffie said instead. "We should wait a little while. You know, just to be sure?"

"Okay," Vanitas said in a sensible voice. "Don't worry. We can have as much time as you need. Okay?"

_You just love giving me blue balls, huh?_ Vanitas thought as she nodded her head in thanks.

He left the house and caught up with his companions in the Second District.

"Where have you been?" Donald asked, angrily.

"Long story," Vanitas said as he ran beside the others. "Doesn't concern you."

They made their way on top of the Gizmo Shop, where Vanitas made short work of the boards blocking the bell with his axe. With the boards out of the way, Sora walked over to the rope.

"Like this?" he asked as he pulled the rope.

The bell ran for a good long while. Once it was done ringing, their attention was drawn to the fountain near the entrance to the Second District. Fire flared in the water, and the square shaped decorative display turned, showing a new display.

The group exchanged surprised looks.

"I don't remember the fountain ever doing that," Vanitas said.

"Do it again!" Goofy said.

Sora complied and pulled the rope again. Once it was done ringing, the display changed again, this time making green-bluish light go up the arches above the fountain.

"That's two," Donald observed.

"One more," Vanitas agreed. "Be ready for anything.

Sora nodded and pulled the rope one more time. Water shot out of the sprouts as the display changed one more time. After a few seconds, the display changed again, and in its place was the Keyhole. It glowed brightly and proudly with purple light.

"Son of a bitch," Vanitas said, impressed.

"Never would have guessed it was there," Sora commented.

"That's kind of the point," Vanitas told him. "It's inconspicuous. Out of the way. So that no one could find it."

"Well, we found it," Goofy said. "Now let's go seal it."

Everyone agreed. They jumped off the top of the shop, landed on their feet, and ran towards the Keyhole.

Just as they got close, they were stopped when Guard Armor showed up again.

"Back for more?" Vanitas asked in a badass voice as he pulled out his Colt and aimed it with both hands.

The others got out their weapons, and got ready to fight. Goofy swung his shield at one of the hands. Donald jumped up and attacked the other hand with his staff. Sora started a combo attack on one of the feet, deflecting it when the hands tried to do a spin attack. Vanitas shot at the hands with his gun, while Donald shot Blizzard a few times at the feet. Sora did one more combo on one of the feet, and the heartless collapsed onto the ground.

"Huh," Vanitas said, taking the empty clip out of his gun.

"That was easier than last time," Goofy observed.

Suddenly, the armor started shaking. It flew back up into the air, reforming into its form. All of a sudden, it put its hands on the ground, and the remaining limbs floated up into the air. The torso flipped upside down, the head rose high into the air, and the feet rose up to the end of the bottom (top, in this case?) of the armor. The head settled into place where the feet were supposed to go. The feet opened up, like they were now hands. The mask of the armor lowered, revealing the classic heartless yellow eyes. Guard Armor was now Opposite Armor.

"Stupid name for an equally stupid enemy," Vanitas muttered, pulling out his sledgehammer.

Donald shot fire at the foot hand, just as the four limbs pulled back. Sora and Vanitas got out of the way as the limbs attacked Donald and Goofy. Vanitas went right to work and started hitting the hand foot with his sledgehammer. Since the hand was now acting like a foot, he figured it wouldn't try to grab his weapon, which had happened a few times in the past with other enemies.

Sora jumped up and tried attacking the foot hand with a combo attack, but couldn't block it as the armor did a rush in front spin attack, knocking back Sora with a grunt. Just as one of the hand feet came close to Vanitas, he tried knocking it away with his sledgehammer. Unfortunately, that just annoyed it, and it smacked him into the nearby wall. Donald blasted Blizzard and Fire a couple of times, getting the hand feet, but only doing so much damage.

Sora recovered and joined in the assault on the hand feet, slowly dwindling them down with combo attacks. They occasionally hit the other limbs, or the torso, with their attacks, but that was more a blessing than a curse. The more damage done, the better. They managed to fight without fault for a few seconds before the torso came up, kind of uppercutting Sora in the head.

Vanitas managed to pull himself up, and looked at the heartless in anger. He raised up his hand so that his palm was facing the sky, and fire appeared in it. He pointed his hand at the Armor, and shot fire out. Doing this, he managed to do some damage, but not a lot.

"I honestly forgot I could do that for a second there," Vanitas told his companions.

He then made a fireball in his left hand, then threw it at the heartless, where it exploded on impact of the feet and hands. Again, though, this didn't do a lot of damage.

After a little longer while of the group whaling on the armor limbs, they finally managed to take out one of the hand feet. Once that was finished, Vanitas picked up his sledgehammer, and ran back in, ducking an attack from the torso trying to strike him.

Sora had started on the feet hands next, continuously jumping up and attacking them with combos. Vanitas joined his lookalike in fighting the feet hands, while Donald and Goofy kept the torso and remaining hand foot occupied. The head just floated around, watching the four of them smash apart pieces of its body.

_Not very smart, _Vanitas thought as he forced one of the feet hands onto the ground.

Vanitas then swung his sledgehammer into the foot hand, which destroyed it on impact.

The remaining foot hand and hand foot flew back onto the torso, along with the head. The limbs pulled back and attacked at the group, hitting Donald, causing him to wail in pain. In retaliation, Sora jumped up and did one more combo on the remaining foot hand, and destroyed it.

Now that all was left was the torso, head, and the remaining hand foot, the group started to think that things were gonna be okay. They started their attacks on the remaining hand foot, Goofy with his shield, Donald with his staff, Sora with the Keyblade, and Vanitas with his sledgehammer. Unfortunately, in the middle of this, the hand foot rose up with the head near the narrower part of the armor. The wider part of the armor was pointed at the group, who scattered as a dangerous purple orb was shot out.

Donald and Goofy managed to get near the narrower part as the wider part continued to blast shots at Sora and Vanitas. Since it paused between each shot, they were given time to run in and help Donald and Goofy try to keep fighting it. They managed to do a lot of damage to the torso, but the remaining hand foot stayed out of reach. Luckily, after a bunch of missed blasts, the hand foot and head separated from the torso again.

Sora and Vanitas didn't hesitate to run in and attack the remaining hand foot. After just a few more combos from Sora, and a few more smashes from Vanitas' sledgehammer, the last hand foot was destroyed.

During the entire battle, the group had been doing a good amount of damage to the torso, so they knew that they didn't have much more to go with attacking it. Sora did a few more combos, Vanitas hit it a few more times with his sledgehammer, Donald shot a few more blasts of magic, and Goofy hit it a few more times with his shield.

To do the finishing blow, Sora decided to try out his new summon gem.

"Courage," he said, holding his hand to his heart.

Sora tilted his Keyblade in a locking manner, causing energy to appear at the tip. He swung the blade a few times before pointing it into the sky. With a few more slashes, the lion Simba was standing next to him, ready to fight.

"Give me strength," Sora said as he and Simba pulled back.

The two were charging up, and when the attack was ready, they released it, which was evidenced by Simba's roar. The attack sent out a wave that finished off the Armor. Knowing that the battle was over, Simba disappeared in a flash of light, and the others watched the heartless boss.

The torso and the head shook around once again for a few seconds before the head fell into the torso. Light flared at the head, and a heart flew out. The heartless disappeared in a flash of light, and Sora felt energy surge through him. He now knew Aero magic.

With the fight now over, Sora walked over to the keyhole, which had finally stopped glowing. Light appeared at the end of the Keyblade, and light surrounded the keyhole. Sora spun the Keyblade around and pointed it at the keyhole. Stars gathered around the end and flew into the tip. With that, a beam shot out of the Keyblade and into the keyhole. The sound of a lock clicking played, and the keyhole vanished.

"I'd say we're doing all right," Vanitas said, at which his companions nodded in agreement.

"Three down," Donald said. "Who knows how many to go?"

"Don't feel down, Donald," Goofy told the duck. "The King sent us on this journey because he trusted us. That makes me sure we can do this!"

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "We've already done three. What's a few more?"

"As long as we stick together," Vanitas said confidently. "We can fight anything the darkness throws at us. We can do this!"

His companions looked at him in surprise, not expecting something like that coming from him. After a few seconds, Vanitas realized it was him who said that, and looked confused.

"Whoa," he said. "Where the fuck'd that come from?"

"Maybe on the inside you're really a swell person?" Donald asked in a teasing manner.

"Shut up," Vanitas said in an annoyed manner as he turned and walked up the nearby staircase.

The other three laughed as they followed Vanitas up the stairs. Since he was looking away from them, Vanitas figured he could get away with displaying the small smile that appeared after Donald's words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that I'm getting excited for is that I'm getting closer to the part where I get to add the boys here into the first Avengers. Still trying to figure out how many I can do, though. I mean, they'll definitely be in Endgame, but I want to try to figure out how many other Marvel movies I can have them in. There is one other one I was thinking of, and it's probably gonna piss some people off.
> 
> Also, if it seems like Vanitas is being a little rude with his thoughts, that's the idea. After ten years, he isn't that easily acceptable to having new friends anymore, so he's not afraid to insult these people he's with at the moment, because he doesn't see them as friends. At least, not yet. That's the point of character development. It doesn't happen overnight. Oh, also... yes, he did complain to Nomura there.
> 
> One last thing, Vanitas has been fifteen for the last ten years, but he kind of has the mindset of a 25 year old, even if he can be a little immature. He ended up watching as Yuffie grew up over the last ten years, and I checked, she's nearing adult age in this time frame. So while they have chemistry, it feels weird on both parts, since Vanitas watched her grow up, and Yuffie can't tell if he's technically a teenager or an adult. Awkward on both ends.


	13. Trouble in the Desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After arriving on a new world, the group immediately encounters danger

After leaving Traverse Town and going through space, the group managed to reach a new world. This one was called Agrabah, and it looked like a city within a desert. The minute the four of them walked through the city entranceway, heartless appeared. They fought through new bandit like heartless easily, but barely managed to escape getting cut with their blades.

Travailing through the city streets, they walked into an Alleyway with large buildings on either side of them. They walked near a small pile of crates, and were surprised to see a woman hiding behind them.

"Who's there?" the woman asked, standing up and looking around the taller crate at them. "Hello?"

Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy introduced themselves as the woman walked out from behind the crates.

"I'm Jasmine," Jasmine introduced herself. "My father is the sultan of Agrabah."

"Oh, you guys have one of those government systems," Vanitas commented.

"Uh..." Goofy said. "So that makes you a princess."

"But he has been deposed by Jafar," Jasmine said, looking at Goofy. "Who now controls the city."

"Jafar?" Goofy asked.

"You haven't heard of him?" Jasmine asked. The four boys shook their heads. "He's the royal vizier. He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah. He's desperately looking for something, something he calls the 'keyhole'."

"Of course," Vanitas said, looking at Donald. "Because these things can never be easy."

Donald shared a similar look of annoyance on his face as he nodded in agreement with Vanitas.

"Jafar caught me trying to escape," Jasmine continued. "But _he _helped me."

"Who helped you?" Sora asked.

"We were hiding nearby," Jasmine explained instead, looking at Sora. "But he left a while ago to take care of something..."

She sighed. "Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right."

"Aladdin?" a voice on top of one of the rooftops drew their attention. "Where might I find this street rat?"

A man wearing red and black robes, holding a staff with the likeness of a snake on it stood on the rooftop, staring down at them. The group guessed he was Jafar.

"Jasmine," Jafar said. "Allow me to find you more suitable company, my dear princess. These little rats won't do, you see."

"Jasmine, run!" Sora told the princess, gesturing with his arm.

Jasmine ran out the Alleyway. With her gone, Sora summoned his Keyblade, and Vanitas pulled out his machete with his right hand. The other two already had they weapons out, so they just joined in on getting in their battle stances.

"Ah," Jafar said in an understanding voice. "The boy who holds the key."

Bandit heartless appeared on both sides of the man. They jumped down as Jafar left through another walkway. Sora rushed in and did a combo attack on one, Goofy swung his shield at another, Donald launched out Thunder in an attack, and Vanitas and the other Bandit swung their blades at each other, intercepting each others attacks. Within very little time, the heartless were gone.

"Come on," Sora said, gesturing at the archway they walked through minutes before. "We need to look around some more."

"No arguments there," Vanitas said. "Gotta look around to see if there's anything or anyone that could help us stop this Jafar prick."

Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement. On that, they walked back into the central part of the city. After looking around through the city, they didn't find that much, though.

"Seems like the only thing in this town's heartless!" Donald yelled as they rested near a stand selling... something.

"Even the people are gone," Goofy added.

"Well," Vanitas said. "With the large amounts of heartless around, isn't that kind of understandable?"

"He's got a point," Sora said. "They're probably in their homes, hiding."

"Okay, that makes sense," Donald agreed. "But you'd think there'd be some kind of police or something to fight them off."

"There probably was," Vanitas agreed. "But unfortunately, not all weapons are compatible to fight heartless with."

They shared a collective shudder at what could have happened in that scenario.

Vanitas turned his head, and his attention was drawn to a little closet sized room with a pole in the middle. His curiosity peaked, Vanitas walked towards it, which confused his companions.

"Vanitas," Donald called out. "What're you doing?"

Vanitas looked over his shoulder at them.

"How often do you find random closets with poles?" he asked them.

Vanitas grabbed the pole by both hands and climbed up it. Reluctantly, his companions followed him.

They reached the top and found themselves in a slightly dirty room with boarded up windows. There were pillows, vases, and cabinets strewn throughout the room at random. A simple poor man's home.

"Who do you think lives here?" Goofy asked.

"Obviously not someone with a lot of money," Vanitas said, as he walked around, examining the walls.

"Uh, guys?" Sora announced as he walked towards one of the cabinets.

The others turned towards him, and saw what had drawn his attention. A carpet was trying to levitate into the air, but it was trapped underneath the cabinet's legs.

"I think it wants out," Goofy commented.

"No shit," Vanitas said as he walked next to Sora.

The two then grabbed the cabinet and pushed it aside. On cue, the carpet floated up and spun in a circle before it "stood" on its bottom two frills, facing Sora and Vanitas. It "nodded" at them, then flew out the giant hole above what they guessed was a sleeping place. Donald was standing on the steps, so he was able to look out the hole, and watch the carpets path.

"The carpet flew off toward the desert," he announced. "Let's follow it, guys!"

"Rock and roll," Vanitas declared as he ran out the steps.

"Hup!" Vanitas called as he jumped out the hole, towards the marketplace they were in moments ago.

"He's crazy," Donald told Sora and Goofy.

Sora looked at the duck.

"You're just now figuring that out?" he asked.

"True," Donald nodded.

Despite their berating of it, the three of them followed Vanitas' example and jumped out the hole. Once they joined him, the four made their way through the town entrance and ran into the desert until they found the carpet. They walked towards it, catching on to the fact that it was gesturing wildly with its top half.

"It wants us to come along," Sora told them. "Let's see where it wants to take us."

"We're gonna look like genies," Vanitas commented.

They climbed onto the carpet, and it didn't hesitate to speed along the desert, taking them to a new location. It dropped them off in a dark area, with large rocks making a circle, save for some space that let people walk into it. In the center of the area, a man and a small monkey were stuck in a sinkhole.

The group ran forwards to help, but were immediately accosted by Bandit heartless popping out of the ground.

Vanitas pulled out his katana and twirled it to show off his skill. He started slashing at Bandits while Goofy used his shield to hit one, and Sora launched out Blizzard. Unfortunately, when Sora tried running in for a combo attack, he got hit by two Bandits' slashes with their swords.

"Take that!" Donald called out as he shot up Thunder.

The lightning came down, and hit the Bandits. Unfortunately, while they took some damage, this wasn't enough to destroy them. With his katana pressed into a Bandits blade, Vanitas side cartwheeled, towards Donald, and kicked a Bandit that was sneaking up on the duck in the head. Donald quickly turned around and blasted the Bandit with fire, destroying it.

"Thanks," Donald told Vanitas.

"Don't mention it," Vanitas said as he pulled a hunting knife out of its sheath.

Vanitas threw the knife with great strength, causing it to fly through the air, past Sora's head, and right into the face of a Bandit. The bandit disappeared, and Sora looked at Vanitas in gratitude. Donald used Cure on Sora just in time for more bandits to pop up.

While Sora and Donald were attacking the Bandits with combo attacks and magic, Goofy threw his shield at one of them. Unfortunately, the Bandit knocked it aside with its sword, and the shield fell into the sand. The Bandit charged at the weaponless Goofy.

"Goof!" Vanitas called out. "Catch!"

Goofy reached up just in time to catch Vanitas' katana. The Bandit had raised up its sword in an upwards slash, so Goofy slashed the katana through its torso. Vanitas, now not having a weapon, got an idea. He rolled on the ground towards Goofy's shield, and picked it up in just enough time to block a downwards slash from a Bandit's sword.

Vanitas and Goofy stood near each other, attacking Bandits that came near them with each others weapons. Vanitas smacked a bandit in the face with the shield, then knocked it aside. Goofy kicked one Bandit in the knee, then slashed at its head, destroying it. Vanitas threw the shield at one Bandit, the shield hit the Bandit in the head, then ran back into Vanitas' hand. He uppercutted the Bandit, causing it to go flying into the air, over the rocks.

"Vanitas!" Goofy called out, getting Vanitas' attention.

A Bandit was running towards Goofy, and the dog had leaned forwards. Somehow, though, Vanitas understood what the knight captain was indicating. He ran towards Goofy, and rolled his back onto Goofy's back. When he got off Goofy's back, he smacked the Bandit in the face with the shield, knocking it to the ground. Vanitas stomped at its head, destroying it. He looked up and saw another Bandit charging at them, this time on Goofy's right. Vanitas thew the shield, hitting the Bandit in the face, and confusing it. Goofy took the opportunity and stabbed the Bandit in the gut, destroying it.

At this moment, they noticed that all the bandits were momentarily gone, and Sora and Donald were walking towards them. So, they gave each other back their respective weapons.

"Where'd you learn how to use a blade like that?" Vanitas asked as he sheathed the katana.

"Being Captain of the King's Royal Knights," Goofy said while Vanitas reached down to pick up his knife from earlier. "You learn a thing or two."

"I'll say," Vanitas commented as he stood up. He patted Goofy's shield. "Man, I've got to get me one of these. Who's your shield guy?"

While they were talking, they didn't notice when Sora had started to walk into the sinkhole to inspect the man half buried in the sand. They did notice it, though, when even more Bandits popped out of nowhere.

"Gawrsh," Goofy exclaimed, catching Sora's attention. "Not again!"

While Vanitas was grabbing one of his guns, the unknown man easily stood up out of the sand. He pulled out a lamp and placed his hand in front of it.

"Genie!" the man announced after a moment of hesitation. "Get rid of these guys!"

He raised the lamp as blue smoke expelled out. A genie yelled out as came out of the smoke. His hair was a simple ponytail, along with a beard that curved at the chin. There were circular golden earrings on his pointy ears, and there were golden bands on each of his wrists. And right as his torso ended, a rad band separated it from his... tail? What do you call that part?

The genie looked around with a big smile on his face. He gestured with his arms as he announced, "Wish Number One, coming right up!"

He snapped his fingers and the heartless disappeared in a flash of purple light.

"And now I wanna be a genie," Vanitas commented.

They recuperated in the desert where they made introductions. Turns out this man was Aladdin, the same guy that Jasmine was looking for. They told him that they found him thanks to the carpet, but forgot all about Jasmine for a minute.

"I see," Aladdin chuckled. "Thanks, Sora."

"Aladdin," Sora said. "What're you doing out here?"

"Same old stuff," Aladdin answered. "Hunting legendary treasure."

"How's that working out for ya?" Vanitas asked.

"Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders," Aladdin told them as the flying carpet flew next to them. "I found that magic carpet."

He pulled out the lamp before he continued. "And this lamp. Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the..."

Aladdin was interrupted by the genie appearing out of nowhere.

"Please, kid," he announced. "Leave the intros to a professional. The one and only GENIE OF THE LAMP!" He rubbed a lamp in his hands that disappeared a second later. "Rub-a-dub-dub the lamp and have your dearest wishes granted." He flew next to Aladdin and dropped confetti above him. "Today's winner is... Aladdin! Congratulations!" He shook Aladdins hand.

"Any wish?" Donald asked, inquisitively.

Vanitas looked at the Genie with similar inquisition. Maybe this guy could be the solution to getting back his life force and his memories. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Genie waving his hand in front of Donald's face.

"Patience, my fine, feathered friend!" he told Donald. "Any three wishes!" With that, three of him appeared, all holding up three fingers. As he spoke, two of them disappeared, and he lowered a finger. "A one wish, a two wish, a three wish. Then I make like a banana and split!" Genie disappeared.

"Our lucky winner made his first wish," Genie's voice announced somewhere. He then appeared next to Sora, hand pretending to cover his smiling mouth. "And let me tell you, what a doozy that wish was..." Two Genies appeared back to back with their arms crossed. "So he has two left." The Genies disappeared.

"So, master," Genie said as he used his tail(?) as a microphone. "What'll you have for Wish Number Two?"

He gestured with his hand at Aladdin, and a spotlight fell on him from somewhere. Cheering and the sounds of airhorns appeared from somewhere as Aladdin considered.

"Hmm," Aladdin said. "How about making me a fabulously wealthy prince?"

"Oooh!" Genie exclaimed. "Money! Royalty! Fame! Why didn't I think of that?" He flew around a bit. "Okay, you asked for it! A hundred servants and a hundred camels loaded with gold!" As he talked, he gestured like he was holding up a phone and pressing some buttons. "Just say the word, and I'll deliver it in 30 minutes or your meal's free."

"Hey," Genie said as he put his arm around Aladdin's shoulder. "I'll even throw in a cappuccino."

_This guy's nuts,_ Vanitas thought, which Sora somehow heard in his head. He looked at Vanitas in confusion, which Vanitas didn't notice.

"No, thanks," Aladdin said, probably to the cappuccino.

"Okay," Genie said.

"I think I'll put that on hold until we reach Agrabah," Aladdin decided.

"Uh," Goofy said. "Why a prince?"

"You see," Aladdin said. "There's this girl in Agrabah..." _Of course,_ Vanitas thought. "... named Jasmine."

"But she's a princess," he continued sadly. "And I'm..." He looked down. "Aw, she could never fall for a guy like me."

With that, the group remembered...

"Oh. Princess?" Donald asked.

"Jasmine?" Goofy asked.

"Man, we're idiots," Vanitas said.

"Oh, that's right!" Sora exclaimed, determination on his face. "She's in trouble, Aladdin!"

"What?" Aladdin asked. "Well, c'mon, let's get going!"

The five of them managed to climb onto the carpet, and were flying back to Agrabah as quickly as they could. Genie flew right next to them in the air.

"Ah!" he exclaimed as he flew. "Fresh air! The great outdoors!"

"I guess you don't get out much, huh?" Sora asked as the group watched him from the carpet.

"Comes with the job," Genie explained. "Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty-bitty living space. It's always three wishes, then back to my portable prison. I'm lucky to see the light of day every century or two..."

"Sounds like you got a shit deal," Vanitas commented, and his companions looked like they agreed with him. "Any way you could get out of it?" 

"Honestly," Genie said. "I don't see that happening any time soon."

"Say, Genie," Aladdin said. "What if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp? What do you think?"

Genie looked at him.

"You'd do that?" he asked.

"Genie, it's a promise," Aladdin guaranteed him. "After we help Jasmine."

They got back to the city to find some of the pathways blocked by various boxes and crates. They made it to the poor man's home that, not that surprisingly, was Aladdin's apartment. There, the other four explained a little bit more about what was going on, and what they had heard earlier.

"So, Jafar is after Jasmine and this 'keyhole'," Aladdin recounted.

"Keyhole, eh?" Genie asked. "I could swear I've heard about that somewhere before..."

"Really?" Donald asked. "Where?"

"Now, where was it?" Genie asked, looking down in remembrance. "It's only been 200 years."

"The legend of the keyhole and Keyblade goes back centuries," Vanitas reminded Donald. "But things get all mixed up. One legend says the Keybearer saved the world, and another one says they wrought chaos and ruin upon it. It's a crazy system that we still don't understand."

Donald just looked at him, surprised that the brute that they knew could know something like this.

"Well, anyway," Sora said with determination. "We've got to stop Jafar before it's too late."

The five of them made their way along the rooftops until they reached a place that Aladdin told them was the palace entrance. They looked down from their position to see Jafar and Jasmine standing together in front of some regal looking doors. They jumped off and landed across the area from the two.

"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you, boy?" Jafar asked. "Back to your hole, street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more."

Jasmine was standing behind Jafar, looking upset about this whole thing.

"I think the only one troubling the princess is you, douche bag," Vanitas commented. At this, Jafar looked at him with scorn.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin called out.

"I'm so sorry, Aladdin," Jasmine said, even though Jafar blocked her off with his arm.

Aladdin managed to sneakily rub the lamp behind his back and request for Genie to help Jasmine. Knowing something was going on, Jafar turned around in surprise to see Jasmine being lifted up in Genie's arms.

"One wish left!" Genie announced. "You're making this really easy, you know."

"So sorry, boy," Jafar chuckled. "I'm afraid your second wish has been denied."

A red bird flew towards Jafar carrying the lamp. Vanitas could somehow tell the bird's name was Iago, but that wasn't their concern right now. Aladdin looked down at his hands in surprise to see that they were empty. Iago deposited the lamp into Jafar's waiting hand.

"Uh, oh," Vanitas said.

"I'm sorry, Al," Genie said as he disappeared, dropping Jasmine.

Jasmine shrieked as she fell into a pot, which then sprouted spider legs on two of its sides.

"And now," Jafar said, gesturing with his arms. "I bid you all farewell. Attack!"

Jafar disappeared, and more pots sprouted out legs. Two even exploded to reveal a heartless like centipede head and tail. Sora had enough time to cast Aero on himself, making a barrier, as the Pot Centipede constructed itself with the head, pot body, and tail.

Donald blasted Blizzard at the head as Vanitas pulled his sledgehammer out of his sling. Vanitas smashed one of the pots with his hammer while Goofy swung his shield to attack the tail. Sora and Aladdin both attacked the Centipede head with their blades, but it charged past them. It crashed through the boxes covering the entranceway, and the group ran after it into the marketplace.

Once Goofy was close enough, he charged the Centipede with his shield, hitting the tail and some of the pots that made up the body. Once Donald got close enough, he blasted fire and ice at one side of the Centipede head, while Sora did a combo on the other side. Vanitas pulled out his Ar-15 with his spare hand, and alternately hit the pot body with his sledgehammer and shot at the Centipede head and tail with his rifle. Aladdin ran in when he got the chance and attacked both the pot body, and the Centipede head, doing as much damage as he could.

After a little while of attacks from all five of them, during which Sora was able to try out his Sonic Blade ability, the Pot Centipede was eventually defeated. However, Jasmine was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact they were sure they had destroyed the pot she was in during the battle.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin exclaimed as they looked around in confusion.

Jafar's fiendish laughter reverberated around them.

"To the desert!" Aladdin exclaimed. "Come on, let's move!"

"Let's roll," Vanitas declared.

The five of them ran towards the city entrance, ready to find Jafar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm just gonna stop talking about when the next chapters are updated, and stop worrying about it. At least, nowadays, I don't take as long as some other people. I won't give names, but let's face it, some people take forever with updating. And since school's starting back up in a few days, It will definitely be on a need to know basis. Meaning I need to figure out how to find time to update. Oh, also, the next chapter begins with something influenced entirely from Everglow's timeline, so I again suggest you check it out. I will be making an edit to it, though


	14. Fighting in the desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group has to fight a LOT of things in the desert

The group of five flew across the desert on the carpet, ready for what Jafar could throw at them... or so they thought. A giant, armored, six armed heartless popped out of the sand spinning the two _khopesh_ swords held in the middle hands. The group narrowly managed to dodge the blades, but they were stopped when Arabic columns came up, creating a barricade. Sora, Donald, Vanitas, and Goofy fell off the carpet while it flew off, carrying Aladdin with it.

Finding themselves stuck, the group examined the heartless in front of them. The head was snake like, a banner fell from the waist that held the heartless sigil, a unique looking blue and orange belt was around the waist, and the feet looked like classic ancient Arab shoes.

"I don't think he wants to play swords," Vanitas commented, pulling out his machete with his right hand.

"This won't be pleasant," Donald said, summoning his staff.

The others summoned their weapons as the heartless, that Vanitas somehow knew was called Kurt Zisa, waved his _khopeshes_. Magic appeared around him, and started to appear around the group.

"Defense!" Sora declared, casting Aero on himself just before Kurt's magic set in.

Now none of them could use their magic to attack. However, an orb of energy had appeared in each of Kurt's lower hands.

"Destroy the orbs," Sora realized. "And we can use magic again."

"Let's get to 'em," Vanitas declared.

Kurt jumped over them to the other side of the area. The others ran after him, and Sora didn't hesitate to start attacking one of the orbs with combo attacks. Vanitas ran to the other orb and started hacking at it with his machete. Goofy joined him and tried hitting the orb with his shield, while Donald whacked the other orb with his staff with Sora. Quickly noticing Kurt spinning his swords, Vanitas and Donald managed to get out of the way, but Goofy and Sora got hit by the blades. Kurt then jumped across the arena again, so the group was forced to run after him again.

Once they got close, they resumed attacking the orbs, taking out the left handed one, which was quickly followed by the right handed one. With that, they had their magic back, and Kurt fell to the ground, stunned.

Donald immediately launched out Thunder, hitting Kurt right in the head. Vanitas followed his example and snapped his left fingers, causing a wave of fire to come up. He raised his hand towards Kurt, and the fire came down in a wave at the heartless' head. Sora started jumping up and attacking the head with aerial combos. It seemed that the head was the weak spot, so they figured that was the best place to attack. The heartless' neck extended and tried to use the head to attack, but Sora intercepted the attack, stunning it. Goofy joined in the attack and jumped up to whack the head with his shield.

They managed to keep Kurt down and attack his head for a good long while, but he eventually managed to stand up again. Although, something told Vanitas that they had done well, taking out half of the health the heartless had. He still didn't understand how this stuff worked.

Kurt then rose into the air, which they immediately could tell wasn't a good thing. A barrier surrounded Kurt, which they could somehow all tell needed magic to be destroyed.

"Good thing we found that summon stone for that dragon," Vanitas told Sora.

"You guys mind?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy as they backed up from the heartless.

"Go ahead," Donald said.

"Be careful," Goofy warned, raising up his shield.

"Courage," Sora said, placing his hand at his chest as light came from it.

Sora spun his Keyblade around and stabbed it in the ground. A red shockwave appeared at the ground. He twisted the Keyblade, and smoke came up out of the ground. The smoke rose over the Keyblade high into the air, in which a wicked looking dragon appeared in. Light flashed, and a bright red, goofy looking dragon with an eternal smile appeared... standing on Sora's head.

"I am Mushu!" exclaimed the one foot tall dragon, which Sora and Vanitas looked at with surprised looks on their faces.

Sora raised his Keyblade and pointed it at Kurt's shield. Mushu got the hint and started shooting fire out of his mouth at the shield at machine gun speed while Sora ran after Kurt. Vanitas ran with his brunette counterpart and launched fireballs out of his left hand towards Kurt with Mushu. Unfortunately, they were both interrupted by tornadoes appearing out of the ground. The two quickly got out of the way as the tornadoes came together in an attack.

"Go!" Sora exclaimed at Mushu, pointing his Keyblade at Kurt again.

Mushu continued shooting fire at the shield, and in no time at all, the shield was destroyed. With this, Kurt fell onto the ground, once again stunned. Since he still had time with Mushu, Sora decided to take advantage of it and kept having him shoot fire at the boss while Vanitas ran in and hacked at the head with his machete. Once he ran out of time, though, Mushu had to leave.

"I'm out," Mushu called out before he disappeared.

"I like him," Vanitas told Sora before he jumped up and kicked Kurt in the head.

Donald and Goofy reappeared, and they went back to attacking Kurt with their weapons. Donald jumped up and whacked the head with his staff, then blasted out Blizzard when he was on the ground again. Goofy and Sora tried attacking at the head, but it started waving around in different directions. Vanitas tried catching it, but instead, the mouth bit his hand.

"Ah!" Vanitas exclaimed, looking at the palm of his hand, even though no blood was coming out of the wound. Like he said, he might not be able to feel pain, but doing this helps make him feel more human.

Immediately after biting Vanitas' hand, Kurt stood up and magic surrounded him again. Sora immediately used Cure then Aero on himself, just as Kurt used his own magic to cancel out their magic. The orbs even reappeared in Kurt's two lower hands. Donald even tried using Thunder before the magic was cancelled out, but he missed. 

Kurt then pulled back and charged forwards in an attack, knocking back Donald and Vanitas. He spun around his _khopeshes_, which Sora and Vanitas managed to dodge as they made their way to the lower hands towards the orbs. Sora managed to do a combo attack just before Kurt pulled back and attacked, hitting him.

Vanitas jumped back and pulled something called a Mega Potion out of his pocket. He didn't completely understand the point of it, but he figured they could all use it at the moment. Vanitas threw the Mega Potion into the air, and green energy appeared over the four of them. They were immediately healed of the wounds they had gotten throughout the fight.

"We gotta get more of those," Vanitas commented as Goofy landed next to him.

"They'd definitely come in handy," Goofy agreed.

Unfortunately, Kurt then jumped up in the air and started spinning horizontally in the air in an attack, right above the ground. Sora and Vanitas ducked just in time to dodge the attack. Kurt then turned around and started spinning vertically in an attack, the blades nearing the ground, towards them. Sora and Vanitas jumped in opposite directions, away from the attack at the last second. Kurt then turned to face Donald and Goofy, and spun horizontally towards them, this time on the ground. Goofy jumped out of the way just in time, but Donald and Vanitas got hit. Sora dodged it even before it came close.

Kurt then got back on the ground, and the group rushed in to attack the orbs. Unfortunately, he swung his blades at them in a way that made them run into the attack. Goofy, the kind gentleman that he was, stood back and threw up Potions to heal his comrades. They thanked him and resumed running after Kurt, who had once again jumped across the arena.

Dodging his spinning blades attack, Sora and Vanitas managed to rush in and attack at the orb, with Donald getting in a few hits. They destroyed the orb, and Kurt fell to the ground, stunned again. All of them whaled on Kurt's head, using combos, simple attacks, and spells again. They did quite a bit of damage, but Kurt quickly rose up into the air, surrounding himself with his shield again.

Kurt started floating around, so Sora followed him and launched out Thunder spell after Thunder spell. This caused him to quickly run out of energy for magic. Luckily, hitting the shield caused Kurt to drop out orbs that replenished magic energy. Picking up orbs, Sora managed to get back magic energy and launch out more Thunder spells. With one last Thunder spell, the shield broke and Kurt fell to the ground, stunned.

Sora and the others ran in, attacking the head, but Kurt quickly retaliated. Now on top of the attacks with his head, he launched out purple orbs of energy. They managed to hit all four, causing them to not be able to get the last attack in on Kurt. The group managed to replenish each others' health and magic energy by using Potions and Ethers on each other, just in time for Kurt to rise into the air, orbs of energy appearing in his lower hands again.

"Son of a bitch!" Vanitas yelled, more annoyed than anything.

Sora barely managed to cast Aero on himself before the magic finished, cutting off their magic. Kurt stood up and spun his blades around, knocking back Donald, Vanitas, and Sora, in that order. After everyone either getting hit by or dodging attacks, Sora managed to get in close and attack an orb, attacking it, getting in a bit of damage. Vanitas managed to front flip forwards, dodging the attack, and doing damage at the other orb.

Unfortunately, Kurt then floated in the air and started spinning horizontally above the ground towards them again. Vanitas and Donald managed to duck, but Sora and Goofy got hit. Kurt turned around and spun vertically this time, hitting Vanitas and Sora. Kurt turned around and spun at them while on the ground, this time getting all four of them.

Vanitas threw up another Mega Potion, healing all of them. Which was good, because Donald was knocked unconscious. Once Kurt was back on the ground, the group rushed him, determined to finish things off. Goofy swung his shield at the left hand orb, and it was destroyed. Sora and Vanitas started attacking the right hand orb, and managed to do a good amount of damage before Kurt hit them. Donald whacked his staff into the orb, and Goofy whacked it with his shield. Vanitas then rushed in and kicked the orb, hard. This destroyed the orb, and Kurt fell to the ground, stunned again.

Vanitas then snapped his fingers, encasing his machete in fire. He threw the machete, which caused the final blow, and it flew back into his hand, the fire dissipating.

The four of them stood in front of Kurt and watched as he weakly waved his arms. Kurt then got on one knee, and they could tell he was starting to fall.

"Oh, shit," Vanitas said. "Run!"

They immediately followed Vanitas' suggestion and started running away from Kurt. They couldn't run sideways because Kurt's hands fell onto the ground on either side of them. They kept running as Kurt fell towards them. Luckily, carpet reappeared just in time and picked them up right before Kurt could fall on them. They flew away as a heart erupted out of Kurt's back and rose into the air, at which Kurt disappeared.

"What was that?" Aladdin asked them.

"Nothin' pleasant," Vanitas said, pulling a satchel out of his sling. He looked at his fr... companions. "What do you know, it was a good idea to keep all our stuff in here."

The group reached into Vanitas' magic satchel, restocking on their Potions and Ethers.

"Never doubt the magic satchel," Sora said, uncorking a vial. "It can save your life."

"Exactly," Vanitas said as he and Donald and Goofy also uncorked vials. "To beating that prick."

The four of them raised their vials and then gulped them down. Since Vanitas also couldn't taste, he couldn't tell the difference with what he thought was a Potion. The other three, though, winced at the taste.

"That's not that good a Potion," Donald commented.

"Feels like there's a bug in there," Goofy said.

"How old is this thing?" Sora asked, giving Vanitas back the vial.

Vanitas took the vial and sniffed the inside. While his taste buds didn't work, he could still smell. His eyes widened at the smell and took the vials from Donald and Goofy.

"Those weren't Potions," Vanitas told them. "That was tequila. Sorry."

He reached in the satchel to grab some more vials, made sure these ones were Potions and passed them to the others.

"My mistake," Vanitas said, sipping the Potion.

After a few minutes of flying on the carpet, the group ended up back in that dark area from earlier.

"Why exactly are we here?" Vanitas asked, genuinely confused with his companions.

"You'll see," Aladdin said as he ran forwards.

The others followed him, and stopped when the sand came up suddenly. Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy stared up as the earth shook, and more and more sand rode up. A big rock like tiger head with glowing, purple eyes rose out of the ground. Aladdin stared in surprise at it while Donald just walked forwards. Red energy was in the tiger's open mouth.

"This head is the entrance to the Cave of Wonders," Aladdin told them. "But it didn't have purple eyes before."

"It's being controlled by the heartless!" Goofy announced.

Vanitas sighed out, annoyed.

"Of course," he said as he pulled out his machete with his right hand again. This time, he pulled his Colt out of its holster with his left hand as well.

The group scattered as the tiger head spat out fire. It then head but the ground in front of it, giving Sora the chance to jump up and attack an eye with combo attacks. Vanitas shot at the eyes from a distance. Donald launched up Thunder in an attack, hitting both the eyes at once. Once tiger raised up its head, it also took Sora up. He exclaimed at unexpectedly rising into the air.

"Stay up there!" Vanitas told him. "We'll distract it!"

Heartless then popped up at random.

"We'll also hold these guys off!" Vanitas yelled again before he shot a Fat Bandit in the head.

Sora attacked at the eyes, while Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, and Aladdin fought the Fat Bandits. Donald blasted ice at one of them, and Vanitas slashed at its back, finishing it off. Aladdin charged another one, slashing it in the back a bunch of times. Goofy finished it off by whacking it with his shield. Everyone dodged a blast of fire from the tiger mouth, and the remaining Fat Bandit got hit, stunning it.

Goofy and Vanitas nodded at each other, and rushed the Bandit. Goofy threw the shield, hitting the Bandit in the head, and the shield flew towards Vanitas. Vanitas caught the shield and jumped over the Bandit, hitting it with his machete, then threw the shield, hitting it in the head, then it flew back towards Goofy. Goofy caught the shield, and rammed it into the heartless' head, knocking it onto its back, destroying it. With the Bandit destroyed, Vanitas and Goofy walked towards each other, smiles on their faces.

"Man, we make a good team," Vanitas said, raising his hand for a high five.

"Sure do," Goofy agreed, smacking Vanitas' hand.

Goofy turned back towards the tiger head, and Vanitas just realized that he wasn't holding his Colt anymore. He also noticed that Sora was back on the ground. Everyone managed to scatter out of the way in time to dodge the fire breath. Vanitas slipped and ended up on his back. Noticing his gun nearby, Vanitas crawled towards it just as a Fat Bandit charged at him. He grabbed his gun and and shot the Bandit in the head just as it was about to breathe fire at him.

Looking up, Vanitas saw that Sora had managed to get back onto the tiger head, and was performing the final blow onto the right eye. Just in time, too, as blue energy was just shot out and was flying towards Donald. Goofy blocked it with his shield, and Sora jumped down to join his friends. They looked up in time to see the head raise up and open its mouth for them. Vanitas, who was still on the ground, laid his head back in the sand.

"I need a damn vacation," Vanitas sighed out.

Sora walked over and reached his hand down to Vanitas. Vanitas looked at him curiously for a second.

"You'll get it later on," Sora told him. "Right now, we've got a job to do."

After another second, Vanitas took the offered hand, and Sora helped him stand up.

"Let's get to work," Vanitas agreed.

With that, the group turned toward the tiger mouth and climbed inside. Where the tongue ended started a set of steps that was going downwards. They started down the steps, prepared to face the Cave of Wonders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, the Kurt Zisa fight is completely random, but like Everglow says in the Timeline explanation, it seems like it would work as a trap Jafar set for them along the way, especially since they never canonically fight them. This boss can pretty much never happen in the game unless you go to Agrabah after Hollow Bastion, but since they don't actually do that in canon, it seems like a good idea to include it here.  
And yes, I also have it mentioned that they already found the summon stone for Mushu at this point in the game, but they also never canonically explain it, and since he says they've fought together in KHII, like Everglow says, we need to have some way to have him in here, right?  
I'm just going along with Everglow's timeline because I want to have a complete sequence for this series, so I'd feel better to have everything. Especially for something that Vanitas does before KHIII. Hold tight, you'll see what it is eventually.  
On top of all that, what do you guys think of the budding friendship between Vanitas and Goofy?


	15. The Cave of Wonders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Tiger Head now freed from the heartless, the group now enters the Cave of Wonders, ready to face Jafar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna take me a while to figure out a good balance for adding chapters now that school's back up

The group ran through the entryway of the Cave of Wonders, both impressed by the ornate designs of the walls, and on edge because they were running into a battle. The being on edge was especially useful since they ran into all kinds of heartless along the way. After going through weird hallways, falling down pits into caves of water, using enchanted statues with the help of Aladdin's monkey friend, Abu, and climbing up a LOT of stairs, they eventually made their way to a treasure room. In here, Vanitas had to fight hard to contain his excitement.

"Oh, we've hit the jackpot, boys!" Vanitas announced with genuine excitement for the first time in a long time.

His excitement was justified. The room was filled with giant piles of gold that they could walk on. Nearby were columns, an ornate fireplace, and a couple more statues of monkeys holding gems. Thoroughly excited, Vanitas pulled his satchel out of his sling and got on his knees in front of a pile of gold. Before he could zip the zipper, though, Aladdin stopped him.

"We can't touch any of this," Aladdin told him. "If we do, then the guardian won't ever let us leave. We need to leave it all."

Donald looked upset at this. Sora and Goofy nodded their heads in understanding. Vanitas, however, was aghast.

"All of this," Vanitas said, standing up and gesturing with his arms at the gold. "And you're not allowed to touch _any _of this?!?"

"Yep," Aladdin said, nodding his head. "Sorry."

Aladdin and Sora started walking towards the opposite exit, followed by Donald and Goofy. Vanitas, however, looked back at the giant pile of gold in disbelief.

"Son of a..." he started to say.

Goofy interrupted him by grabbing at his jacket hood and dragging him along with them.

The group ran into a very large cave that Aladdin told them was the lamp chamber. On the opposite side of the entranceway and on either side of the room were large brick expanses that they would need to jump to reach up on. Most of the floor was a large expanse of rocks that rose up in the center. The expanse across from the entrance led up to the Keyhole, which was purposely outlined with a large similar stone design. Jafar stood in front of it with Maleficent. Jasmine lay unconscious at right in front of the Keyhole. The group reached the center of the room, and Jafar turned to look at them.

"Wait a second," Sora said, looking up at Maleficent. "Are you Maleficent?"

Instead of answering, the evil fairy looked at Vanitas with scorn and disappeared.

"Dude," Vanitas said, looking at his brunette lookalike. "Everything we told you about her, and you thought she'd be up for a casual conversation?"

"Okay, that's a good point," Sora agreed.

"Jafar," Aladdin declared. "Let Jasmine go!"

"Not a chance," Jafar declared. "You see, she's a princess, one of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door."

"Open..." Goofy started, confused.

"... the door?" Donald finished.

"What all do you know about the door?" Vanitas called up to Jafar.

"Enough to know that you fools won't live long enough to see what lies beyond it," he rebutted at Vanitas.

Jafar pulled out the lamp.

"Genie!" he yelled to a sad looking Genie that was floating above him. "My second wish. Crush them!"

Aladdin gasped as he looked up at Genie. "Genie, no!"

"Sorry, Al," Genie told him, sadly. "The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

Jafar then raised his staff, at which the eyes on the serpent glowed red. At this, barriers came up, blocking off the Keyhole and Jasmine, and the exit. Vanitas pulled out his bo staff, Sora summoned his Keyblade, Donald summoned his staff, Goofy summoned his shield, and Aladdin pulled out his sword.

The group ran forwards as magic appeared at the top of Jafar's staff. He muttered, and a beam shot out. Fortunately, since the group was right next to the brick expanse, the beam just shot into the ground at Jafar's feet. Sora, Vanitas, and Aladdin climbed up, out of the way of the beam. Sora attacked the vizier with a combo attack, Aladdin swung his blade at him, and Donald launched up Thunder, hitting him. Vanitas, himself, swung his staff in an arc and hit the man in the stomach with it.

Sora jumped up and did a few more combo attacks as Jafar tried encasing himself in an orb of energy. Luckily, it was translucent, so the group was still able to attack him. Goofy threw his shield at Vanitas. Getting the message, Vanitas caught the shield and threw it at Jafar. The shield hit Jafar and flew back into Vanitas' hand. He then threw the shield back at Goofy, who caught it.

The orb then dissipated, and Jafar floated over the edge of the platform. Sora used a combo attack on the vizier and fell to the ground. Jafar then transformed into a purple orb and flew to the brick platform on the left of the Keyhole. The orb then flew around before it went back up above the brick platform. Sora ran after it, but had to dodge Genie's attacks.

"I'm really sorry about this," Genie announced. "Run!" he yelled as he swung at Sora and missed.

Sora and Vanitas climbed up the brick platform to face Jafar. Vanitas swung his staff and hit the man in the back of his knee. Sora joined in and did a couple of aerial combo attacks, which Jafar grunted in pain in response. With one more aerial attack, Sora fell off the platform and to the floor. Vanitas raised his staff but stopped when he saw Jafar raised his own. The man jabbed his staff into the ground, and purple energy surrounded him on the ground, which Vanitas stood out of the way of.

Sora was running around the side of the platform to join Vanitas, but Jafar transformed into a purple orb of energy again. The orb flew past Vanitas, around part of the area. Genie screamed.

"Watch out!" he yelled as he blindly swung his arms at Goofy and Aladdin.

Genie missed hitting them, but Vanitas had just jumped down next to them. Genie hit Vanitas, and knocked him back against the wall. Although, when Genie had hit him, green orbs had also fallen to the ground. They had encountered these orbs before, they could replenish health.

Vanitas chuckled. "Genie, you beautiful son of a bitch."

He absorbed the orbs, replenishing from the damage he took.

Looking up, Vanitas saw that Sora was on a new platform, attacking Jafar. Goofy was up there with him, hitting the vizier with his shield. Genie was also trailing Donald and Aladdin, even though it was clear he really didn't want to hurt them. Then, Vanitas got an idea.

He ran forwards and jumped up, grabbing onto Genie's shoulders from behind. He then launched himself up into an arc, making sure that he would be landing next to Jafar.

"Thanks, buddy!" Vanitas said as he was upside down.

While in the air, Vanitas pulled back his staff, swinging it as he landed next to Jafar, hitting him.

"Nice one," Sora commented, landing next to Vanitas after doing an aerial attack.

"Thanks," Vanitas said, twirling his staff around, intentionally showing off.

Goofy then spun around in circles, hitting Jafar a bunch of times with his shield. Once that was finished, Jafar raised his staff, and fire appeared over it. He then floated over the edge of the brick platform, and around the arena in a circular arc. Vanitas then threw his staff up into the air, and caught it like he would his spear. He then pulled back and threw the staff at the vizier across the room. Unfortunately, the staff missed and ended up sinking into the sand on the ground next to one of the platforms.

"That would have looked cool if it didn't miss," Vanitas said, straightening up.

"Yep," Goofy agreed.

"It really would have," Sora agreed, nodding his head.

The three of them then jumped off the brick platform and ran after Jafar. Vanitas veered off to get his staff out of the sand, of course, though. Now that he had his staff back, Vanitas turned to see that Donald was running towards green orbs. No doubt he had been hit was Genie, and was trying to replenish his health. Unfortunately, Jafar had just shot a beam out and hit him with it, knocking him out.

"Hey!" Vanitas yelled at Jafar.

He then ran towards Donald and pulled out a Potion. He threw it up into the air where it disappeared. Like before, green energy appeared over the duck's head. With that, Donald woke up.

"You good?" Vanitas asked him.

"Yeah," Donald nodded his head, getting up.

A thought occurred to Vanitas.

"Hey," he said. "Are you able to use other people's magic with your staff?"

Donald thought about it.

"Yeah, maybe," he said. "Why?"

"I think I've got an idea," Vanitas said.

He turned towards the Keyhole, where Sora was doing combo attacks on Jafar. Vanitas then twirled around his hand in front of Donald, making a ball of fire bigger than a baseball appear in it. Donald got the message.

"You ready?" Vanitas asked him.

"Yeah," Donald said, making fire appear at the end of his staff.

"Sora!" Vanitas called out to the brunette. "You might wanna move!"

Sora looked past Jafar at them and got the message. He jumped off the brick platform before Jafar could understand what was going on.

Donald then swung his staff at Vanitas' fire, and the two fires merged together. Following the strike of Vanitas' staff, the combined fire flew at Jafar, which exploded on impact, damaging Jafar greatly.

Jafar then floated into the center of the arena and groaned in pain as purple electricity surrounded him. He yelled in pain as he turned black for some reason.

"That must've hurt," Vanitas commented.

"Well, we are pretty powerful," Donald said, slightly smugly.

"Yeah, we are," Vanitas smirked at the duck.

He raised his hand up to receive a high five. Even though Vanitas had his hand at a level that Donald could reach, Donald still jumped up to receive it.

They regrouped on the brick platform in front of the keyhole, about to reach it and Jasmine. Unfortunately, their attention was drawn back to the center of the chamber.

"Genie!" Jafar announced, holding up the lamp. "My final wish! I want you to make me an all-powerful genie!"

On the other side of the chamber, Genie turned to look away and cover his eyes and pointed his finger at Jafar. Magic shot out and into Jafar. Gold colored energy surrounded Jafar, and purple light came up around the rock center of the chamber.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Vanitas yelled as he and the others tried to be careful of the earth shaking.

Jafar then lowered to the rock ground which suddenly disappeared. Past the ground was a new area with lots of lava at the bottom, along with some coming out of slots in the walls. In the center of the lava, platforms rose up, connected together, some of them going from one wall to another.

"We're gonna have to go down there, aren't we?" Vanitas asked.

The others, begrudgingly nodded their heads.

"Just making sure we're all in agreement," Vanitas announced. "We have to do it, but none of us want to."

They jumped off the platform, and fell into the chamber onto the platforms. The group stood prepared with their weapons drawn, looking around for Jafar. After a few seconds, a giant, red, muscled genie popped out of the lava, drawing their attention. Genie Jafar laughed in success as he looked down at the group. He crossed his arms at them, and that bird from earlier, Iago, flew by carrying a lamp in an orb of energy.

"The lamp!" Aladdin announced. "Get Jafar's lamp!"

"Eh," Iago complained. "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"

Jafar had leaned in to the platforms and tried swinging his hand at the group, but he missed. Iago then flew near them, and the group didn't hesitate to attack. Sora attacked the orb with aerial combos, Aladdin swung his sword at the orb, Vanitas attacked it with his baseball bat, Donald struck it with his staff, and Goofy hit it with his shield.

They chased Iago around the platform before Jafar popped up holding a giant ball of magma in both hands. He threw the ball, but the others had already scattered out of the way, so it just exploded on the ground.

The group ran forwards again and started attacking the orb under Iago again. Trying to be smart, Sora even backed up and shot Blizzard at the giant form of Jafar. Unfazed, the giant genie punched the platform, unfortunately hitting Donald.

"Stop hitting my duck!" Vanitas yelled, pointing his Glock, which he was somehow now holding, at Jafar's head.

Vanitas shot a few bullets into Jafar's head, but with the man's new size, they barely fazed him. Iago then flew towards Jafar, out of range of the group. Donald cast Aero on himself, and the group just waited for Iago to fly back into range. Jafar had disappeared back into the lava to get another giant ball of magma.

Donald cast Aero on Sora as well, just as Jafar reappeared with the ball of magma. He threw the ball, which hit Donald again. Donald cried in pain just as Iago flew back towards them. The group did not hesitate to run in and do aerial attacks on the orb once again.

After a few attacks, Sora fell over the side of the central platform and towards a lower one. A new platform slid out next to Sora, so he was able to jump on it and use it as leverage to get back on top of the central platform. He was able to rejoin the attack on the orb, but Iago kept flying out of range. Jafar reappeared with a new ball of magma, but actually missed this time.

They managed to keep pace with Iago, though. Because of this, in no time at all, they were able to dwindle down energy the bird and the orb had. Once they had gotten to a last hit, Vanitas faced the bird, and didn't hesitate to hit it with his baseball bat. Iago fell to the ground, and the lamp landed next to him.

"Hope that didn't cause any brain damage," Vanitas commented as Sora picked up the lamp.

"Okay, Jafar!" Sora announced. "Back to your lamp!"

He held up the lamp with both hands. Energy surrounded Jafar and formed a tornado going into the lamp. Jafar screamed as he spun around in a bunch of circles before the tornado pulled himself and Iago into the lamp. Sora recoiled from the event, and stared at his friends.

"The one with the lamp calls the shots," he reminded them, holding up the lamp with his right hand.

"Nice," Vanitas commented.

"Way to go," Donald announced.

"Good goin', Sora!" Goofy cheered.

"Now how are we gonna get out of here?" Vanitas asked, looking at his fr... companions.

"I think I've got that taken care of," Aladdin said, looking up to the hole where the lamp chamber was.

They looked up to see that the carpet was flying down towards them. They all gathered on the carpet and flew back up to the lamp room, jumping off onto the brick platform in front of the keyhole. Aladdin looked around in confusion.

"Jasmine?" he called out, walking over to the corners of the platform. "Jasmine!"

While he did that, the others faced the keyhole. Light had surrounded the keyhole, and blue light had appeared at the end of the Keyblade. Sora pointed the Keyblade at the keyhole, and stars flew into the end. A blue beam shot out of the Keyblade and into the keyhole. Very bright light originated from the keyhole, and once it faded, the sound of a lock clicking appeared. A golden wave rose up, surrounding the keyhole frame, which then glowed a bright light. The group watched as the light faded. The frame was still there, but the actual keyhole was gone.

After a few seconds of silence, the cave started shaking. The group looked at each other in fear.

"Whoa," Goofy announced to the others. "We'd better get out of here!"

They gathered on the carpet, even though they had to drag Aladdin on. Rocks had started falling from the ceiling towards them.

"Jasmine!" Aladdin yelled again as they flew away.

* * *

The group made it back to Aladdin's apartment where they decided to tell him the truth about what happened, and where Jasmine was.

"So," Aladdin recounted, sitting on his "bed." "Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah."

He stood up.

"Sora," Aladdin continued. "Let's go find her."

"Sorry," Sora said, looking down. "I can't take you with me."

"We shouldn't really be telling you this," Vanitas added.

"Wh-why not?" Aladdin stuttered out.

"I sure wish we could..." Goofy said as Aladdin sat back down.

"But we can't," Donald continued for him. "If we take him to another world, we would be..."

"Muh," Goofy tried to pronounce. "Mudd..."

"Meddling!" Donald yelled.

"Aladdin," Sora said, looking up at him. "We'll find Jasmine. I promise."

Vanitas nodded his head in agreement.

"Uh, earth to Al," Genie announced, slapping Aladdin playfully on the back. "Hello? You still have one wish left. Look, just say the word. Ask me to find Jasmine for you."

After looking down with his eyes closed in consideration, Aladdin looked up at Genie.

"I..." he said. "I wish... for your freedom, Genie."

Genie had started to raise his hand to use a spell, but he stopped suddenly and looked at Aladdin in surprise.

"Al!" he declared.

A purplish pink tornado appeared around Genie's "tail," and some similarly colored energy flew around him. Genie screamed as the energy flashed, transforming his "tail" into legs. Genie then looked at his wrists as the golden cufflinks disappeared in a flash of light.

"A deal's a deal, Genie," Aladdin told him. "Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master."

"Nice one, man!" Vanitas yelled to Genie.

"But," Aladdin continued. "If you can, it'd be great if you could go along with them and help Sora find Jasmine."

"Hmmm," Genie said as he turned around and crossed his arms. "Sorry, Al. I'm done taking orders from others."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow, surprised at the man's newfound authority.

"But..." Genie then continued. "A favor, now that's entirely different."

He turned and looked over his shoulder at Aladdin.

"I guess I could give that a try," Genie said. He then put his arm around Aladdin's shoulders. "After all, we're pals, right, Al?"

"Genie..." Aladdin said, looking at Genie.

"Just leave it to me!" Genie declared, pointing at himself with his left thumb. He then winked at Aladdin.

Aladdin brushed the hair out of his face and chuckled with his friend.

Vanitas smiled at the two of them, feeling like he had felt this kind of friendship before.

"Hey," Donald said, brushing Vanitas' side, drawing his attention. "Is that a genuine smile on your face there?"

"Shut up," Vanitas blandly said, looking away from the duck.

Donald chuckled as Genie passed some energy into Sora. Now they could use Summon to call upon Genie.

"Sora," Aladdin said. "Please find Jasmine for me."

"We're on it," Sora said, nodding his head.

"Let's roll out, boys," Vanitas announced.

The group followed him as he jumped out the window again. They ran through the city towards the gummi ship, ready to track down Jasmine as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to have this part in with the last chapter, but I personally don't like typing out really long chapters because it takes so long to do them, and a lot of times I lose my train of thought if I'm not careful enough


	16. A little respite. Emphasis on "little"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group discusses a few things while having a little snack

After putting the ship on autopilot, the four of them laid back to have a little rest while flying to the next world. They took off a little bit of the heavy equipment they had to carry, and placed it around their seats.

"Really wish we had something to eat," Sora announced. "I'm hungry."

"So am I," Goofy said, holding his stomach.

"You guys are in luck," Vanitas said, reaching into his satchel with both hands.

With a little bit of effort, he pulled out a mini cooler. He placed down the cooler and opened it, revealing lots of kinds of various foods in six different sections.

"We got drinks," Vanitas said, pointing out each section. "Desserts, snacks, vegan stuff, vegetarian stuff, and pre-prepared stuff. Since we have magic, we can use it to warm up the pre-prepared stuff."

Vanitas grabbed some chopsticks and a container with Udon Noodles.

"Go nuts, boys," Vanitas said, fire appearing in his palm to warm up the noodles.

Sora grabbed some other noodles, along with some Wasabi. He scooped up the Wasabi with a plastic spoon, getting a pretty big amount.

"Careful," Vanitas tried warning, right as Sora stuffed the spoon in his mouth. "That stuff's really..."

He was cut off by Sora wincing at the feel of the Wasabi burning up in his mouth.

"... spicy," Vanitas finished.

The other three chuckled as Vanitas got a bottle of milk for Sora out of the cooler. Sora didn't hesitate and chugged down some of the bottle.

"Try not to do something like that again," Vanitas warned, picking up noodles with his chopsticks. "Really makes you lose your cool."

"Bold of you to assume he has cool," Donald said, opening a container of yogurt.

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, which elicited laughs all around.

"So," Donald said, swallowing some yogurt. "What do you guys think our odds are of defeating this Maleficent?"

"We should be able to do it," Sora said. "I mean, we've taken on a few of her lackeys so far, so she can't be much worse."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "But you'd be surprised at how much control she's got over the heartless. You should have seen her ten years ago. She was launching out heartless after heartless in all kinds of directions. It was pretty intense."

"But back then," Goofy said, taking another bite from his bacon sandwich. "You didn't have us."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "I've got the Keyblade, you've got your skills, Donald and Goofy are warriors, we should be able to do it."

"I like your optimism," Vanitas admitted. "It can be a little much, but it's good. It reminds me..."

He paused for a second.

"It reminds you of what?" Donald asked.

"I don't remember," Vanitas admitted, picking up some noodles with the chopsticks.

"One of the things from before the amnesia?" Goofy asked.

"Yep," Vanitas said, dropping the noodles in his mouth.

"How much do you actually remember?" Sora asked. "It seems like there's some stuff you know, and some you don't. How much is in there?"

Vanitas thought for a second. He wasn't completely sure if he could trust these guys that much, but managed to finally accept the fact that these guys were his fr... companions.

"I'm pretty sure," Vanitas said. "That before I had amnesia, I had three really good friends. We did pretty much everything together, and always had each other's backs. But then... This human piece of shit happened. He took away our home and... changed all of our destinies." He looked down. "Somehow I survived, but it's what took away my life force. Now, I don't have anything left. I don't remember anything. Not my family, my friends, or any kind of home. I don't know what to do."

The others just looked at him in awe during the explanation. They were genuinely surprised that one person could have so much pain. It helped explain some of the brutality he clearly had.

"Well, hey," Sora said, putting his hand on Vanitas' shoulder. "At least the Order of Light is giving you another chance."

"The what?" Vanitas asked, looking at Sora. Then it came back to him. "Oh, right, the Order of Light. Yeah, I... I guess it's good."

Vanitas became very interested in picking at his noodles with his chopsticks, looking anywhere but at the others.

"There's something I'm curious about, though," Sora said after swallowing some of his own noodles. "Back in Agrabah, I ended up hearing your voice in my head, saying that Genie was nuts. Do you know how that happened?"

Vanitas looked at Sora in surprise.

"It works like that, too?" he asked Sora, genuinely curious.

"What works like what?" Donald asked.

"I think," Vanitas said, putting his chopsticks in the container with the noodles. "That I have more powers than just... this."

At that, small bits of fire appeared around Vanitas' fingers in his free hand. The fire disappeared, and he looked at the others.

"You think you're more than just a pyrotechnic?" Goofy asked.

"Exactly," Vanitas said. "I think when I lost my life force, I lost the ability to use the other powers I have."

"What all have you noticed?" Sora asked.

"Well, there's the telepathy," Vanitas pointed out. "I can speak to people through their minds, and hear other people's thoughts. There's also enhanced strength. I once lifted that gummi ship I was talking about with my bare hands." The others looked surprised and impressed. "But I don't exactly have full control of them. They just happen in random spurts. I heard Donnie and Goof's thoughts at a random moment. Like you said, you heard my thoughts at a random moment. At a random moment I was able to jump up onto the Gizmo Shop back in Traverse Town from in front of the fountain. It's just weird."

"Maybe when you get your life force back," Sora suggested. "You can get back control of your powers."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "That's what I'm countin' on. But I can't help but think..."

Everyone's attention was drawn to the klaxon on the console. They all straightened back up in their seats and looked out the window to see something very big floating at them. From here, they could see that it had... fins?

"What is that?" Donald asked.

"Looks like a fucking whale," Vanitas said.

"Wow, it's huge!" Sora exclaimed.

_I'm too confused to say "That's what she said," _Vanitas thought, which Goofy heard.

Since this was part of the topic they had just discussed, Goofy wasn't that confused. The whale then floated up in an arc in front of the ship, then went out of sight.

"That's one huge whale!" Goofy commented.

"It's Monstro!" Jiminy suddenly exclaimed, jumping onto Sora's shoulder. "He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!"

Monstro then flew back into their eyesight.

"Whoa!" Donald exclaimed as Monstro flew around. "Sora, get us out of here!"

Before anyone could grab the controls, Monstro flew towards them, his mouth wide open.

"Too late!" Sora exclaimed. "He's gonna swallow us!"

"Fuck!" Vanitas exclaimed.

Monstro swallowed them, and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Vanitas will tell them the whole truth. Soon.


	17. Belly of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After getting swallowed by Monstro, the group has some surprising reunions.

"Knock it off!" Donald yelled up at whoever was throwing stuff off of the wooden frame standing way above them.

Goofy stood next to him holding his shield above his head, and Vanitas was next to them, looking up with equal confusion and annoyance. They noticed it, though, when Sora woke up behind them and walked towards them.

"Hey, Sky, you're up," Vanitas said.

"Are you okay?" Goofy asked Sora.

"What are you guys doing?" Sora asked.

"Besides getting Udon sauce out of my ears," Vanitas said, rubbing one of his fingers in his ear.

"Where are we, anyway?" Sora asked, looking around.

He then had to move out of the way as an item landed where he was standing.

"Uh, ya know," Goofy said. "I think that big ol' whale, Monstro, just swallowed us."

"We seem to be in his mouth," Vanitas said, gesturing to the giant set of teeth they were standing next to.

Goofy continued. "And for today's weather: expect showers."

Goofy exclaimed as an item landed on his shield then fell to the ground.

"Heavy showers!" he corrected himself.

"Hey!" Donald called up as Sora walked over to stand next to them. "Who's there?"

Pinocchio then looked over the edge at them.

"It's me," he announced.

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio," Donald said as he looked down in understanding. He then realized what he just said. "Pinocchio!?"

Jiminy then jumped up on Sora's shoulder, staring up at the wooden boy with the others.

"Pinocchio?" he asked, trying to get the boy's attention.

Unfortunately for him, Pinocchio had already turned around and started walking away, carrying a large gummi block.

"Pinocch, where are you going?" Jiminy called out. "Pinocch!"

He turned to the others.

"Come on, everybody!" Jiminy exclaimed. "After him! Quick!"

They turned towards where Pinocchio was walking to see a giant chamber in front of them. There were all kinds of wooden frames with platforms that made a path towards a ship near the back of the mouth. There was a staircase on the side of the boat that led up to the top of the stern. In the back there were two entranceways that led into the further regions of the whale. Separating the group from the ship was a giant lake of water that they would most likely have to swim through.

"Let's not focus on where that water came from," Vanitas commented. "And go after him."

The others nodded their agreement and swam through the water towards the ship.

"What have you got there, Pinocchio?" they heard the accented voice of an old man from up on the ship.

"With this," they heard Pinocchio say. "We can get out of here, Father."

"Really?" the man asked. "With this big block? You think so?"

"It's true," Sora announced as the group made their entrance by climbing up the side of the ship. "So, how did you end up here, Pinocchio?"

They climbed up onto the stern and walked forwards.

"Oh, my," the man said, walking towards them. "So the whale swallowed all of you, too? My goodness."

"Yeah," Sora agreed. "Looks like it."

"We're just not gonna think about what that water was," Vanitas commented.

"Smart move," the man said. "My name is Geppetto. I'm Pinocchio's father."

He gestured to Pinocchio. The others looked at him while he continued.

"When we got separated," Geppetto continued. "I traveled all over, looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again."

_I get it_, Vanitas thought, which all three of his companions had heard. _I know that willingness to find the people you really care about._

"So," Geppetto said, lifting up the gummi block. "You seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I hope he was a good boy in my absence."

At that, Donald and Goofy looked at each other. Donald waved his hand, and they looked forwards again.

"Well," Geppetto continued. "We've all had quite a journey. Right, Pinocchio?"

He turned towards Pinocchio, only to see that the boy had left.

"Pinocchio?" Geppetto called out.

The group looked to see Pinocchio disappearing through the lower entranceway.

"We'll go get him," Sora told him.

"Are you sure?" Geppetto asked.

"Yeah, it's no problem," Vanitas said, waving his hand. He looked towards Donald and Goofy. "Let's go play babysitter."

The group jumped off the boat and through the lower entranceway. They followed it until they came out into a crazy looking chamber with an exit on the opposite side. Pinocchio was standing in the opposite doorway, smiling at them.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked him. "Come on, let's go back."

"You know," Goofy called out. "Geppetto's awfully worried about you."

"Which is understandable," Vanitas added. "With everything you guys have been through."

Sora nodded in agreement.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" Sora declared. "This is no time for games!"

_What do you know?_ Vanitas thought. _This little guy's grown up a little bit on this excursion._

The group turned around and started walking back towards the path that led to the mouth. They stopped when a voice they didn't expect called out.

"But Sora, I thought you liked games."

They turned around to see Riku standing in front of the other passageway next to Pinocchio.

"Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?" he asked with a smug smile.

"Riku!" Sora said, surprised. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Just playing with Pinocchio," he answered, still smug.

_Why don't I like the smile on your face?_ Vanitas thought.

"You know what I mean!" Sora said, shaking his head. "What about Kairi? Did you find her?"

"Maybe," Riku shrugged his shoulders. "Catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"Come on!" Sora exclaimed, annoyed.

Riku grabbed Pinocchio by his arm and they ran off into the deeper parts of the whale.

"If he pisses me off, I'm gonna punch him in the face," Vanitas told Sora.

"I might just let you," Sora said, annoyance on his face.

The group ran through the chambers on the whale, trying to catch up to Pinocchio and Riku. Of course, along the way, they had to take out varieties of heartless.

"Just out luck," Vanitas said, lifting up his axe. "Even when we're in a place that's not really a world, we run into heartless."

"They really are everywhere," Sora agreed, dismissing his Keyblade.

"At least we got to have a little break in the ship," Goofy tried condoling them.

Donald nodded his head in agreement.

"Yeah, that's true," Vanitas said as he put his axe back in his sling.

All of a sudden, Pinocchio ran past them.

"There!" Donald yelled, pointing after the wooden boy.

"Why am I having deja vu?" Vanitas asked as they ran after Pinocchio.

They followed Pinocchio into a new chamber and stopped when they saw Riku was in there, too. Pinocchio ran past the silver haired boy and into another pathway.

"Riku!" Sora called out, getting his friend's attention. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don't you realize what you're doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora," Riku said, annoyed. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days."

Sora looked down at the Kingdom Key which was somehow back in his hand.

"Do you even want to save Kairi?" Riku asked.

"I do," Sora said, looking down.

"Hey, dumbass," Vanitas called out. "The whole reason he went off with us with the Keyblade in the first place was because he wanted to find you and Kairi. He's just helping out some people in need along the way. Not exactly sure how that's 'showing off', pal."

Riku looked at Vanitas.

"Stay out of this," Riku said. "This doesn't concern you."

Everyone's attention was drawn to the sound of Pinocchio screaming. A temporary truce broke out among the group and they ran into the new chamber.

A giant heartless with two heads on top of each other was in the center, lower part of the room. The lower head was giant and had bar like teeth in front of the mouth. The smaller head on top was an eternally closed mouth, and it's long, floppy arms stretched out from either side of the head. There were eyes on each of the heads, and designs along the sides.

But the thing that really drew their attention was the fact that Pinocchio was trapped in the lower head's mouth, encased behind the bars.

"Shit," Vanitas said with genuine surprise as he pulled out his shotgun. "These guys get inventive."

"You up for this?" Riku asked, holding his sword.

"No problem," Sora said, getting in his battle stance. "Let's do it!"

"Let's get this fucker," Vanitas agreed, pumping his shotgun.

Sora started things by casting Aero on himself and Donald. He jumped forwards and attacked while Vanitas stood back. Once Sora was out of the way, Vanitas fired his shotgun at the heartless' top head. The heartless then swiped at the ground, hitting Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Riku, meanwhile, had run around so he was now behind the heartless. He then jumped up and attacked it with his sword.

After alternately deflecting or getting hit by attacks for a few seconds, the group managed to start getting in some attacks. Donald hit the heartless with his staff and blasted Blizzard at it. Goofy threw his shield at the heartless, then hit the heartless with his shield directly. Sora managed to jump around dodging attacks and got in a few combo attacks. Vanitas stood back for a little while with his shotgun before he decided he wanted in on the action and pulled out his baseball bat. Riku just continued to run around the heartless in circles and then attacking with his sword.

After a few minutes of attacking on both ends, Donald got knocked out, and Goofy was reaching that point. Getting an idea, he looked up at Vanitas on the top ledge, holding his bat with both hands.

"Vanitas!" Goofy called out, drawing the ravenette's attention.

Goofy pulled his arm back and threw his shield at Vanitas. Understanding quickly, Vanitas swung his bat with force at the shield, sending it flying at the heartless' top head in a powerful attack. The shield flew back into Goofy's hand, which he caught pretty easily.

With that last attack, the heartless stepped back towards the back of the room, revealing a closed port where it had been standing this whole time. It grabbed up onto the roof and lifted itself up off the ground. It leaned forwards, opening the lower mouth, releasing Pinocchio. Unfortunately, the port opened and he fell through. Immediately, Riku jumped off the ledge they were all standing on and through the port. The group quickly followed as well.

Turns out, this shaking around wasn't doing too good for Monstro. Back in the mouth, the entire area started to shake, and the water lowered. The group landed on the ship and walked over to the Plank, where Geppetto was standing.

"Pinocchio!" he called out. "Pinocchio!"

The four saw that he was yelling up to Riku, who was standing on top of one of the wooden frames, holding an unconscious Pinocchio.

"Please!" Geppetto begged the silver haired boy. "Give me back my son!"

"Sorry, old man," Riku blankly called out. "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"Geez," Vanitas whispered. "He was a dick before, but he wasn't this bad."

"He's no puppet!" Geppetto cried out. "Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual," Riku told them. "Not many puppets have hearts. I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs."

"Wait a minute," Sora said. "Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?" Riku asked, coldly.

He then turned and walked down the path, into the higher entranceway.

"Yep," Vanitas said. "I'm definitely punching him in the face."

After assuring Geppetto that they would get his son back, the group started their excursion after Riku. Since they could now jump higher, the group was able to climb up the wooden boards and follow Riku into the upper entranceway. There, they had to climb up various platforms and ledges to reach the top part, entering a new, and kind of gross, area.

They were in a circular chamber with a central platform leading forwards from the entranceway. On the ground surrounding it were bits of green liquid that sizzled. Various platforms were all around, some of them high in the air, others lower, specifically placed to help get to the higher parts. On one platform directly on the ground, Pinocchio lay against the wall. Riku stood over his unconscious frame.

"Hey," Sora called out to the silver haired boy. "Let Pinocchio go, Riku."

Riku turned to face them.

"A puppet that's lost its heart to the heartless..." he said, cryptically. "Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora?" He held out his hand. "Let's join forces to save her."

He walked forwards onto the central platform as he continued. "We can do it, together."

_How did the stomach acid not affect his shoes?_ Vanitas thought.

Instead of answering either of their questions, Sora summoned his Keyblade and stood in his battle stance as he stared Riku down.

"What?" Riku asked in genuine disbelief. "You'd rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?"

"Heart or no heart," Sora said. "At least he still has a conscience."

"Conscience?" Riku asked.

As they talked, none of them noticed how Jiminy ran past them towards Pinocchio.

"You might not hear it," Sora told Riku. "But right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

"Then you leave me no choice," Riku said.

"Bring it on, you little shit," Vanitas said.

"Pinocchio!" Jiminy cried as he ran up to Pinocchio. "Pinocchio!"

"Jiminy," the boy weakly said. "I'm not gonna make it."

The boy looked down. After a second, light flashed in his face, which confused Jiminy for a second. Until Pinocchio looked up, looking a bit better, with his nose longer.

"Oh!" Pinocchio said with fake surprise and a smile on his face. "I guess I'm okay!"

Jiminy jumped up and down in joy, and Sora and Vanitas nodded their heads to the others. Riku just looked back at Pinocchio in surprise. His attention was drawn upwards to see the heartless from earlier falling to the ground. Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons as the heartless landed in front of Riku. Riku disappeared through a dark portal. Pinocchio ran past the heartless and the group towards the exit, to safety. Vanitas pulled out his spear, and the group prepared for battle.

The four of them blocked it just in time as the heartless held onto the walls and attacked them with its body. Sora jumped on a platform and used it as leverage to attack the heartless. He jumped up and used a combo attack on the lower head. After Sora deflected some of the heartless' swings with its hands, they pressed on the attack. Donald and Vanitas blasted it with fire, Goofy threw his shield at it, and Sora did a few combo attacks.

After a few blows, the heartless was knocked unconscious. The top head fell at an angle, opening the lower mouth and revealing a dark core in the middle. Sora and Vanitas attacked the core with their weapons. Vanitas decided to be tactical and stab at it with his spear from a little distance away. Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the heartless stuffed its hands in its lower mouth to readjust a few things. It pulled its hands out and faced them again.

Sora and Goofy managed to block another attack from the heartless, but Donald and Vanitas got knocked back. With the attacks from earlier, Donald was knocked out. Vanitas was knocked a little dizzy, but he managed to pull a Potion out of his back pocket.

While Vanitas did that, Sora and Goofy pressed the attack. Sticking to combo attacks, Sora managed to do a good amount of damage. Goofy even did his own share of attacks with his shield, usually pulling back, gathering energy, and releasing it by rushing forward and swinging his shield. They managed to knock it unconscious again, and did even more attacks to it before it woke up.

Unfortunately, when Sora went to block the next attack, he missed and the heartless knocked him back, where he hit his head on the wall. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

"Hey!" Vanitas yelled at the heartless.

Not realizing he had picked up Sora's Keyblade, Vanitas ran forwards and faced the heartless. Just in time, as the heartless had knocked Goofy unconscious, too. To really drive it home, Vanitas picked up Goofy's shield with his free hand and charged at the heartless.

The heartless swung its arm at Vanitas, which he jumped over. He attacked with the Keyblade in a downwards slash, landing on the ground in front of it. He raised the shield and blocked an attack from its other hand and attacked the lower head with the Keyblade. Vanitas then backflipped away from the heartless and charged it again. He threw the shield which hit the upper head, and it flew back towards him. Vanitas then struck the shield and it flew at the heartless, hitting it with even more force.

Vanitas then rushed the heartless and attacked it with a combo attack that used a bunch of front flips and twirls. He then leaped forwards in a front flip.

"Fuck you!" Vanitas exclaimed as he did the combo finish attack on the heartless.

He then jumped back and stood in a battle stance. This confused Vanitas long enough for the heartless to attack him, knocking him back next to Sora. During all of this, Donald had woken up and was using Cure on the others, healing them. Vanitas grunted as he landed next to Sora.

"How did I do that?" Vanitas asked, still holding the Keyblade.

"Probably one of those hidden powers you were talking about," Sora said.

"Probably," Vanitas agreed as he twirled the Keyblade around and offered it back to Sora.

Sora took it and used Cure on Vanitas. With everyone else having their health replenished, they rushed the heartless. They managed to dodge the attacks and attack the heartless with their weapons, taking out the rest of its health and finishing it off.

The heartless fell back like something had pushed it. Light flared above the lower head's mouth and a heart flew out, into the air. The heartless fell to the ground hard, and disappeared in a flash of light. With that, the entire room started shaking around and stomach acid flew around.

"Run!" Donald yelled.

Goofy and Vanitas did not hesitate to listen to him.

"Riku!" Sora yelled, looking around the chamber that was not looking too well. "Riku, where are you?"

Vanitas grabbed Sora by his jacket hood and dragged him after them, similar to what Goofy had done with him in Agrabah.

"Come on, we gotta get the fuck out of here!" Vanitas yelled as they ran after Donald and Goofy.

They made it back to the gummi ship, climbing into the cockpit as the entire place shook around.

"Okay, fun's over," Vanitas declared as they sat back in their seats. "We gotta get outta here."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Okay," Donald said as he grabbed the controls. "Let's go!"

He pushed a few buttons, preparing the ship for take off. The console beeped, but they didn't move.

"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.

"The engines are busted," Donald said, looking at a little screen that displayed ship damage. "We can't move."

Vanitas looked up as the whale continued to shake.

"Wait," he said. "I think I'm starting to figure out what he's gonna do."

After a few seconds of shaking around, the ship was suddenly launched into the Lanes Between as Monstro sneezed them out. They flew through the Lanes more quickly than usual as Monstro moved on.

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay," Goofy said, trying to distract them from the current situation.

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "Hopefully they landed safely somewhere."

"Riku..." Sora said, sadly.

"Uh, guys?" Vanitas announced. "I don't think we're supposed to be going this fast."

The others took notice of this and tried to remedy the problem. Donald grabbed the controls and tried to slow it down, but none of the buttons he pressed worked.

"The controls aren't working," Donald announced. "We're out of control!"

"Of course," Vanitas declared, sarcastically. "With our luck, why not?!?"

"Is there any way we can stop this?" Goofy asked, scared.

"We're most likely gonna crash land somewhere," Donald told him. "But at least we'll stop."

"Okay," Sora nodded his head. "Can you see where we're gonna land?"

"I'll try," Donald said as he looked on the ship's computer.

Vanitas looked over to Donald's side and looked at the computer with the duck. After a few seconds, a new world appeared on the radar.

"I've got something!" Donald announced. "A very different world: Earth 616."

Vanitas paused at that, even though there was chaos going on around them. He remembered his words earlier about how he was from Earth, but 616? This was probably a completely different Earth than he was used to. He knew it was different, and the things he remembered from his Earth wouldn't be here, but something in his gut told him that danger was ahead.

"We're approaching fast!" Donald yelled as the world came into view through the cockpit window.

"Hold onto something!" Vanitas yelled as he grabbed onto his seat.

Everyone screamed in terror as the ship flew way too fast at the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things. Vanitas is now getting more comfortable with Sora and the gang, so it won't be too much longer before he's willing to call them his friends. We're getting there, it's just a slow pace. Have patience, my friends, we're gonna get there together.  
Vanitas using the shield and the Keyblade, the shield isn't that surprising, but the Kingdom Key, yeah, that can be confusing. But remember, we learned thanks to Roxas and Xion back in Days that Keyblade wielders can borrow each other's Keyblades. So, I don't really expect anyone to be surprised, honestly.  
But... Earth 616! If you're familiar with the Marvel comics, it's where the majority of everything happens, which is also confirmed in Spider Man: Far From Home. As for them meeting the Avengers, what's gonna happen first is that they're gonna crash land on Earth during the events of the first Avengers movie, in the same forest where Iron Man and Thor fight. But, it's gonna be in an entirely different story, as adding it here will just make it run long. I'm really excited to be doing this, and hope it won't take me too long to start it up. I have a map planned out for which movies they're gonna be added into, which will make some laugh, and might piss some people off. I'll explain it more at the end of the new story, Keybladed Avengers! And yes, I'm aware that's probably a stupid name!


	18. This is Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finishing the Battle of New York, the gang travels to a new world, which has a unique theme

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It shames me to my very core that I wasn't able to finish this before Halloween ended. Seriously, it wasn't planned at all, and this would have been a perfect coincidence if I was able to post this specific chapter on that specific day

"I'm gonna miss them," Vanitas said with a smile on his face and his hands on the back of his head as he sat in his seat.

"Of course you will," Sora said, smiling. "You and Stark were so much alike I had a hard time telling you apart."

"I do kind of feel a little guilty that we couldn't have been there to help you guys fight," Goofy admitted.

"Hey, it's all right," Sora said.

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "We had plenty of help with the others. So we were good."

"That's true," Donald admitted. "But are you really gonna keep wearing that thing?"

Donald gestured to the SHIELD outfit that Vanitas was still wearing.

"Love it or hate it," Vanitas commented as he looked out the windshield of the ship.

At that, the other three actually laughed.

"A-anyway..." Donald said, wiping his eyes from the laughter. "We need to keep up on our quest. Where's the nearest world that we could help out?"

Sora worked on the computer to scan the Realm Between.

"I think I've found something," he announced.

The others crowded around to look on the screen.

"Halloween Town?" Vanitas asked.

* * *

The four of them appeared at the end of an alleyway, this time more blended in for the world's surroundings. The entire place looked creepy and scary, so it only fit that they looked creepy and scary as well. Donald was a mummy that was somehow still standing even though his torso wasn't attached to his bottom. Goofy was a veritable Frankenstein's monster, complete with a large electronic bolt in his head. Sora was in a surprisingly eloquent outfit that included a pumpkin mask covering one eye, and fake bat wings on his back. Vanitas' clothes were similar to how they were on the ship, if slightly grungier. His skin, however, was more decayed, his scar was open, like a fresh wound, and he was missing his left eye. There was a bite mark on his neck that wasn't bleeding, but looked bad.

"This sure is a spooky place," Goofy said. "I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin', too."

"Don't worry," Donald consoled him. "We look spooky, too. If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!"

"You think so?" Goofy asked.

"I think that might be how things work here," Vanitas commented. "Everyone scaring each other."

Deciding to just figure it out later, the group walked down the end of the alleyway and walked through the pretty big gate onto town square. An explosion nearby caused lots of black smoke to rise over the city walls.

"That can't be good," Vanitas commented.

As the smoke continued to rise, multiple ghost like heartless appeared around the fountain in the center of the square. Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their respective weapons and stood in their battle stances. Vanitas just simply pulled out his Glock, pulled back the hammer, and pointed it at the ghosts. However, they quickly got out of their stances when they saw that the heartless were ignoring them. They jus floated where they had appeared.

"This," Sora said. "Isn't normal. Not even by our standards."

After putting away their weapons, the group walked off to the side and looked on in confusion as a short man dressed like a mayor walked out with a non-electronic megaphone. He stood next to a guillotine, addressing... somebody.

"And now," he announced. "Allow me to introduce the master of terror, the king of nightmares..."

The ghost heartless gestured to the fountain like they were presenting something.

"Jack Skellington!"

A very tall skeleton man wearing a pinstriped suit rose out of the fountain water and gestured like he was presenting himself.

"Quite the showman," Vanitas commented, nodding his head.

"Bravo, Jack!" the mayor yelled excitedly as he ran towards Jack with his arms raised. "Bravo!"

"Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!" the mayor praised Jack as he reached the other man.

"Thank you, thank you!" Jack said as he stepped out of the fountain. He placed his hands on his hips. "But their movement still needs work. It's not scary enough."

Jack leaned down to conceal his face from the mayor.

"I want to strike bone-chilling terror," he continued as he made a creepy face, scaring the mayor. He then straightened up and put his hands on his hips. "I'm going to consult the doctor."

Jack turned and walked towards a staircase nearby.

"Then I'll go attend to the decorations," the mayor said, excitedly.

He ran around, trying to find something he can do.

"What do we do now?" Donald asked.

"Well, from the sounds of it," Vanitas said with his arms crossed. "Those guys are doing some experiments with the heartless, making them less dangerous."

"How exactly d'ya think they're doin' that?" Goofy asked.

"There's really only one way to find that out," Sora pointed out.

"We witness it for ourselves," Vanitas confirmed, turning to walk towards where Jack went. "Luckily I got plenty of practice watching people do experiments back on Earth with Bruce and Tony."

Vanitas started walking after Jack, but the others lingered back a little bit.

"Have you guys noticed that since we left Earth 616," Sora whispered to the others. "Vanitas has been slightly more upbeat?"

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "Not as homicidal anymore."

"More willing to have an adventure full on fun," Goofy confirmed.

"Guess hanging out with the Avengers helped clear up some of the blackness of his head," Donald joked.

"Well, probably," Sora said, looking at his friends seriously. "But back on Earth, I heard from multiple people in SHIELD talk about a Keyblade Master that had visited a long time ago that helped them out."

"So?" Donald asked, confused.

"Phil Coulson told me that it was a black haired teenage boy called V," Sora told them.

Donald and Goofy's eyes widened. They looked from where they last saw Vanitas, and back to Sora.

"I think there's a bit more to Vanitas than any of us know," Sora said.

"You said it," Goofy said, and Donald nodded his head in agreement.

"Hey!" the aforementioned ravenette called out, drawing their attentions. "Why are you guys just standing around?"

"No reason," Sora said, walking over to his older counterpart. "Just taking stock of the items we have on hand."

"Smart move," Vanitas commented. "Never know when we'll run into an enemy."

"By the way," Donald suddenly said. "What are you supposed to be?"

Vanitas, curious himself, looked up at his reflection through the guillotine blade. Seeing his missing eye, decayed skin, and the bite mark on his neck, he quickly figured it out.

"Oh," Vanitas said. "I get it."

He then raised his arms, and grabbed Sora by the shoulder.

"Brains..." Vanitas said in a gravelly voice. He sniffed Sora and shrugged his shoulders. "Never mind, there's nothing in there."

Vanitas laughed, while the others just looked at him curiously.

"I'm a zombie," Vanitas explained with his arms spread out.

The others went 'Oh,' in understanding. After a short chuckle, they finally walked after where Jack Skellington went. They went through an alleyway, through a door with another alleyway, and up a flight of stairs into a lab. Jack was talking with a man in a wheelchair as they observed a Ghost heartless that lay on a table nearby.

"I don't understand," Jack declared. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."

"Nonsense," the man that they assumed was a doctor of science declared. "My devices are always perfect!"

_Arrogant, much?_ Vanitas thought.

Jack tried reading through a book on another nearby table.

"Oh!" he exclaimed, pointing at something in the book. "I've got it!"

"Why, of course!" Jack declared, turning towards the heartless. "The heartless need a heart! Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?"

"Certainly," the doctor said as he rolled his electric chair down the side of the table. "A heart's not that complicated."

He grunted as he turned the chair back towards the table.

"Let's get to work," the doctor declared as he reached under the table.

"To make a heart," Jack explained. "First take a container with a lock..."

At that, the doctor placed a thumping container with a lock on the table, observing it, curious.

"We need the key to this thing first!" the doctor exclaimed.

The four in the group convened, and Donald asked about what Sora and Vanitas were clearly thinking about.

"You're really gonna unlock it for them?" he asked Sora.

"Why not?" Sora asked. "If they succeed, we won't have to fight the heartless, right?"

"It'll be a nice respite," Vanitas agreed. "Especially after all the shit we've been going through lately."

"Besides," Sora continued. "I want to see the heartless dance, too. Don't you?"

Vanitas laughed at the mental image of these ghosts doing the chicken dance.

"Not really," Donald admitted.

"Well, you do you," Vanitas said. He then turned to Sora. "Let's help 'em out."

So they did. Sora used the Keyblade to open up the heart for the scientists. He lowered the blade as Jack watched in amazement.

"My!" Jack exclaimed. "That was amazing!" He then looked at Sora and Vanitas curiously. "Uh, and you are..."

"Sora," Sora answered.

"Vanitas," Vanitas added.

"Well done, Sora!" Jack praised, walking towards Sora. "I'd like you and Vanitas here to be part of this year's Halloween."

"What's this heartless doing here?" Sora asked, gesturing to the ghost.

"Oh," Jack said, looking at the heartless as he put his hands to his hips. "The heartless came to town just recently. What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me. So, the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system."

"These things have a guidance system?" Vanitas whispered to Donald and Goofy.

"He's quite a genius!" Jack exclaimed, walking towards the doctor. He then tilted his head to look down at the man. "Okay, Doctor, let's continue. The ingredients for a heart:"

As they talked, they gestured to the different parts on the table.

"Pulse." A frog exclaiming on the table.

"Emotion."

"Terror," the doctor answered, gesturing to a spider.

"Fear." The doctor scratched the glass, causing a high pitched screeching sound.

"Some terror," Vanitas commented.

"Hope and despair." Two snakes eating each other by their tails.

"What the..." Sora started.

"Fuck?" Vanitas finished, and for once, Donald and Goofy looked like they agreed.

"Mix them all together..." Jack said with a smile on his bony face. "And we have a heart."

The doctor attached the heart to a nearby machine and pulled a lever.

_I'm half expecting a trapdoor to drop someone in an alligator pit,_ Vanitas thought.

Instead, electricity surged from the machine and into the heartless. After a few seconds, the heartless rose up on its tail, and raised its arms like a zombie. After a few more seconds, it lowered its head and fell back onto its back.

"It failed!" the doctor exclaimed as the machine powered down.

Jack looked up in a mitxure of disbelief, and sorrow while the doctor looked back over the book.

"Maybe we're missing some ingredients," the doctor theorized as he looked through the recipe. "Let's try adding memory."

He then opened his head and scratched his brain, which surprised some of the group.

"Sally!" the doctor called out. "Sally!"

No response came.

"Good for nothing girl!" the doctor exclaimed, hitting his chair. As he continued, he turned his chair and closed his head. "Don't know why I bothered creating her!"

"That sounds weird," Vanitas said, at which Sora nodded.

"Sally's got the memory we need," the doctor told Jack. "See if you can track her down."

"No problem," Jack told the doctor. He turned towards the group. "Sora, Vanitas, would you like to come along?"

"Sure," Sora said. Donald looked up at the boy with his hands on his hips.

"We're not doing anything, anyway," Vanitas confirmed.

They exited the lab to find the mayor outside, looking much more upset.

"Jack!" he screamed in his megaphone. "Jack! We have a major crisis! The heartless are completely out of control! We can't stop them!"

The group walked down the steps to talk to the mayor.

"Hmm," Jack said with one hand on his head, and one on his hip. "Maybe our experiment triggered something." He put his other hand to his hip. "Everything will be fine, mayor. You have nothing to worry about."

Donald crossed his arms and looked up at Jack.

They walked out of the alleyway and into the town square where they found many ghost heartless just flying around. Jack shot ice at one while Sora attacked another with a combo attack. Vanitas slashed through another with his axe, while Donald shot ice at another. Goofy then finished off the other ghost with his shield while Jack used Gravity magic to make another one be pressed flat into the ground.

They made their way to a nearby cemetery where they also had to fight mummy like heartless, and flying gargoyle like heartless. After a few seconds of fighting, Sora used a combo attack to finish off a final mummy, at which a ghost dog flew out of a grave.

"Zero!" Jack said to the dog. "Have you seen Sally anywhere?"

The dog raised his ears and flew behind a stone gargoyle.

"Of course he has a ghost dog," Vanitas commented.

They heard a female gasp, and a woman that the others assumed was Sally stood up.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" she asked in a delicate voice.

"Oh," Vanitas whispered to his friends. "She's a franken-woman."

While Vanitas' allies looked confused, Jack walked towards Sally.

"No," he told her as he gestured with his arms (shocking, right?). "Everything's going great. We're going to have the best Halloween ever. All we need now is your memory."

"'Memory?'" Sally asked. "You mean this?"

She pulled out a small bundle of flowers.

"Jack," Sally said as Jack observed the forget-me-nots. "I have a bad feeling about this. Why don't you try something else? There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned!" Jack exclaimed. He then turned to look at Sally. "Once we give the heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it."

Sally looked down, sadly.

"Trust me," Jack added. "You're going to love it!"

They all left the graveyard and went back to the lab where they gave the professor the bundle of forget-me-nots.

"Yes," he confirmed. "This is it. Now, just one more ingredient. We need 'surprise' to complete the heart. The mayor should know where it is."

They ran through town and the graveyard into another graveyard with the mayor, and a giant pumpkin.

"Uh, what's the pumpkin for?" Vanitas asked.

"You're looking for surprise, right?" the mayor asked. "Well, I can help you with..."

"No, thanks," Vanitas interrupted the man. "I've got this."

At everyone's confused looks, Vanitas slowly raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The pumpkin then exploded in a fiery mess. Once the fire faded, small remains of the pumpkin lay on the ground with a chest in the center of them.

"How'd you do that?" Goofy asked with the surprise everyone else was feeling.

"Fire has its own ways," Vanitas calmly explained. "Sometimes it can be small and light the way. Sometimes, it can be large and explosive. I just used the latter."

Sora, although still stunned, walked over to the chest and opened it with his Keyblade. Inside was a jack-in-the-box.

"Is this it?" Sora asked.

"Yes!" Jack exclaimed. "That's perfect for surprise!"

They left the cemetery and ran back to the lab where they presented the jack-in-the-box to the doctor.

"Yes," he confirmed. "This is it."

He added the ingredients to the heart while Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy watched in confusion.

"There you go," the doctor said, lifting up the heart. "This time it's sure to work."

He then rode his chair back towards the machine. When he was halfway there, a kid wearing a skeleton mask slid out from under the table and blocked the way for his chair. The doctor exclaimed as he fell forwards, launching up the heart. It bounced on the table, then back towards the door. The doctor exclaimed angrily as a kid wearing a devil mask caught it. He, the boy wearing the skeleton mask, and a girl dressed like a witch laughed as they ran out the door.

"What the hell?" Vanitas asked.

"Who were those kids?" Sora asked.

"Lock, Shock, and Barrel," Jack explained. "They cause all kinds of trouble around Halloween Town."

"They've stolen the heart!" the doctor exclaimed as he sat back in his chair.

"Don't worry," Sora affirmed to the doctor. "We'll get it back."

"Let's go, guys!" Donald announced.

"Finally, a reason to beat up a bunch of kids!" Vanitas exclaimed, excitedly.

Ignoring Vanitas' remark, the group ran out the door, after the brats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just like that, we're back in this bitch


	19. Oogie's Manor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group chases the brats to a manor, where they're a little surprised by what they find

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I've been really into the Return of the Living Dead movie series lately, which is why I mention the zombies in this, and started that other story late last night

The gang ran out the lab and into the town square, unfortunately finding nothing.

"We lost them!" Sora exclaimed.

"Looks like I have to hold off on kicking their asses," Vanitas added.

"Why do you want to beat up a bunch of kids?" Donald asked, confused.

"Why do you not like watching over your nephews?" Vanitas asked, remembering what Donald told him about his nephews earlier.

Donald thought about it for a second before looking back up at Vanitas.

"That's fair," he admitted.

Jack then looked up and patted his knee. At that, Zero the ghost dog flew out of somewhere and towards them.

"Zero!" Jack explained. "After them, quick!"

Zero flew towards the alleyway leading to the cemetery and disappeared. The five of them got the message.

Fighting gargoyles, mummies, ghosts, and shadows, the group ran into the cemetery to find Zero gesturing over the wall nearby. The curly hill on the other side uncurled and rested its tip on the top of another wall. A walking bathtub carrying the three kids walked up the hill and over the wall.

"This is a weird fucking world," Vanitas commented.

The group continued their conquest, also continuing to take out heartless along the way.

Vanitas and Goofy even got to do another team attack. Goofy through his shield at a gargoyle, and Vanitas caught it with his left hand as it started to fall in the ground. He twirled around and first slashed the gargoyle with his machete, then smashed it into the ground with Goofy's shield. Vanitas then stood up, tossed Goofy his shield, and they high fived with their free hands.

They eventually reached the cemetery with the curly hill, and finished off the rest of the heartless before moving on. As Donald was knocked unconscious, Sora used a Potion that Vanitas gave him to wake up the bird.

"How exactly does this thing work?" Vanitas asked, gesturing to the giant hill.

"Simple," Jack said, walking forwards.

Jack then messed with a nearby gravestone, and the hill uncurled and placed its tip on the opposite wall. The group of five walked across the hill and found a new pathway.

After running down the pathway for a few minutes, the group reached the top of a cliff where they would a wooden bridge that led to an elaborate looking manor.

"I knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" Jack exclaimed.

"That's a weird name," Sora commented.

"Your name means 'sky,'" Vanitas reminded him.

"Oh," Sora said, softly. "I didn't know anyone knew that."

"Kind of easy to figure out, Sky," Vanitas said, patting his younger lookalike on the shoulder. "Let's keep moving."

The group made their ways up the various walkways and paths the manor had. They took out heartless with close up attacks while they were on the walkways, and ranged attacks to take out the flying ones that flew over the edge.

Eventually, they reached the top of the pathway and reached the room that the kids were in. They had just tossed the heart into a slot in a wall, and turned towards the people that had just infiltrated their playroom.

Sora started out by casting Aero on himself, putting a barrier around himself. The kids lunged at the group, so Jack launched out Blizzard, and Donald cast Fira. Goofy started spinning around, attacking with his shield, while Vanitas just picked up the one he assumed was called Barrel with his left hand and punched the kid repeatedly in his mask.

Lock started jumping around, trying to lunge at the others, and Shock tried spinning around in an attack, similar to what Goofy did. The kid, Barrel, even managed to wiggle out of Vanitas' grasp, and fell to the floor in front of Vanitas. He punched the older boy in the crotch, and looked surprised when nothing happened.

"I'm a zombie, kid," Vanitas told the younger boy. "A Trioxin zombie, at that. I can still talk, and headshots don't even work."

He kicked the kid in the head, and he fell on his back, groaning in pain.

Donald got knocked out by the kid, Lock, and Jack continued blasting spells at the kids. Many hits later, they were still fighting the kids. Vanitas was honestly surprised by how durable these kids were against their attacks.

Donald recovered and whacked Shock in the head with his staff, and the kid fell to the ground, crying. Barrel climbed onto Vanitas' back, and the ravenette resorted to hitting his back on the wall to get the kid off. After a few smacks, Barrel fell off of Vanitas' back, crying that he would be good. Jack used Gravity to no avail on Lock, and Vanitas used a combo attack to finish him off. The kid in the devil mask fell to the ground, crying.

The kids took of their masks and rested against a wall while the group looked at them scornfully.

"We were just following orders!" Shock exclaimed.

"So were the Nazis," Vanitas exclaimed. "And they killed thousands."

_So was Loki_, Vanitas thought. _He was being forced to do the attack on because he thought it was his only way out, because someone really dangerous made him. Wait, why do I know this?_

"Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart," Shock tried explaining. "It's all Barrel's fault! It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart."

"Yeah, that's right!" Lock agreed.

Barrel looked offended.

"B-but you guys said..."

"You should be ashamed!" Shock exclaimed at him.

"They're obviously trying to blame it on him so they'll look less guilty," Donald muttered to the others. "I've seen every single one of my nephews try it at least once."

"Never worked, right?" Vanitas asked.

"Not once," Donald said, smiling.

Jack pulled a switch on the mechanism nearby, and a light turned on.

"I think that did something important," Sora commented.

And it did. The group traversed to the lower levels of the manor to find a green door with the design of Oogie Boogie on it. They went inside to find an actually weird looking room.

They were now in an elaborate room with a pit in the center that had all kinds of traps and buttons on the floor. Groves were on the floor and on the upper balcony part, clearly indicating something was supposed to rise from them.

On the other side of the room, a big man that looked like a giant living sack faced them, actually looking a little creepy.

"Oogie Boogie," Jack exclaimed, pointing at the man. "Give me back the heart!"

"You want it?" Oogie asked, leaning down to look at them in a tough voice. "Well, then come on over and get it!"

He gestured to the heart in his tentacle (hand?) and then stuffed it in his mouth. Jack watched in surprise as the living sack at the heart.

He then laughed happily.

"Now," Oogie exclaimed cockily. "Let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, heartless!"

He raised his hands and looked up expectantly. The only heartless that appeared were two gargoyles that appeared on either side of him.

"That was kind of anti-climatic," Vanitas said, at which his allies nodded their heads in agreement.

"This is it?" Oogie asked in equal confusion, looking at the heartless next to him.

He then looked towards the group, looking up as his anger grew.

"Nobody disrespects me!" Oogie exclaimed. "Nobody!"

The entire room powered up, indicating that things were about to get bad. A small explosion knocked the group of heroes off the ledge, and they fell onto the lower section. Oogie ran around on the ledge and threw flaming dice towards the group while the gargoyles flew towards them.

They managed to block the dice pretty easily, and Sora, Vanitas, and Jack took out the gargoyles pretty quickly. They tried running around in the lower part to make sure they kept Oogie in front of them once they got the chance to get up there. Vanitas held his sledgehammer in his right hand, and pulled out his Colt to try to get in a few shots on the living sack. Surprisingly, they had no effect on the man.

Luckily, Sora managed to keep up the plan of keeping Oogie in front of them, and used that when the buttons glowed. He stepped on the button, which caused bars to come up to block them in a small area, including Oogie. The group's floor even rose up, allowing them to reach the living sack of bugs.

Donald launched up Thunder, Jack used Gravity, and Goofy threw his shield at the man. Sora and Vanitas jumped up onto the ledge and attacked the living sack, Sora with combo attacks and Vanitas with his sledgehammer. They managed to beat him for a good while before Oogie jumped up and stomped on the ground, once again knocking the two off. They regrouped on the lower section as the bars lowered.

They then had to start dodging traps for a good long while before they got a change to trap and attack Oogie again. They even managed to keep up this pattern for a good long while, doing lots of damage to the oversized sack of bugs.

After getting knocked off the railing one more time, Sora and Vanitas decided to end it quickly. While the others continued trying to jump up and attack Oogie, Vanitas made a particularly big fireball in his hand. Sora then swiped it with his Keyblade, punting it at Oogie. This finished him off.

Oogie looked up in sadness before millions of bugs started falling out from the bottom of him. He cried out as all of his bugs fell off of the ledge and scattered all over the place, causing him to deflate. A blue beetle came out of the empty sack that the professor's heart also rested on. The beetle fell on its back and couldn't get up.

"So the heart was a failure after all," Jack observed, looking up at where Oogie was standing minutes ago.

"Hey," Vanitas exclaimed. "Look."

He climbed up to where the empty sack was and pulled out a piece of paper.

"More of Ansem's report?" Sora asked.

"Yep," Vanitas confirmed. "I recognize it."

"Another one down," Donald remarked. "Who knows how many to go?"

The group slowly and contently walked out of the crazy room and through the manor. They walked across the wooden bridge and onto the cliff face, ready to walk back into town.

The ground shaking stopped them in their tracks.

"Huh?" Jack asked, looking up as smoke covered the entire manor.

The smoke cleared, showing that the manor had now become a giant version of Oogie Boogie, with its many decorations and outdoor appliances now becoming part of his giant body.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "How did he get so big?"

"Look!" Vanitas exclaimed, pointing towards dark orbs that had appeared all around the giant Oogie.

"It's brimming with the power of darkness!" Donald figured out.

"Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globs!" Jack added.

"So we just have to destroy those things, right?" Sora asked.

"A-hyuck!" Goofy exclaimed, nodding his head and lifting his shield. "That should do it!"

"Piece of cake," Vanitas added, pumping his shotgun.

And so began their next part of the mission, destroying the dark globs. They jumped off the cliff face and began the long, arduous trek of climbing the massive frame of Oogie Boogie and destroying the orbs of darkness that had appeared. It definitely wasn't an easy task due to the giant lantern spewing out fire, the orbs sending out bursts of darkness when they got close, or the gargoyles that appeared to try to stop them.

This plan was a lot easier on paper.

Luckily, whenever they got close to a dark glob, it only took a few attacks from each person to destroy them.

After a long and perilous night of climbing the manor, dodging attacks, and hitting orbs, they eventually reached the highest point where Sora and Vanitas quickly got to work on the final glob. After multiple combo attacks from Sora, and many blasts from Vanitas' shotgun, the orb was destroyed, and the giant form of Oogie started shaking.

"Jump for it!" Vanitas exclaimed.

The others took heed of his words and jumped off the ledges as the giant Oogie Boogie shook and dispelled smoke. They watched from the ground as the smoke masked Oogie falling apart.

Once the smoke cleared, Sora walked forwards with his Keyblade. The entire manor was gone and in its place, the giant Keyhole shined with blue light.

Sora pointed his Keyblade at the moon as stars gathered and flew into the tip. A beam shot out and hit the moon, and the bream was transformed into blue light that fell into the Keyhole. A locking sound originated from the Keyhole as it glowed even brighter with blue light. The light then faded, and the Keyhole was gone.

* * *

The group gathered back in the doctor's lab with Sally.

"Sally," Jack exclaimed, sadly. "Why didn't I listen to you?"

He looked down sadly, and Vanitas patted him on the back sympathetically.

"Don't feel bad, Jack," Sally told him as she took his hands. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Now I feel a little awkward," Sora whispered to his friends.

"Public displays of affection do that to people," Vanitas whispered back.

Donald and Goofy nodded their heads as Jack turned towards the four.

"I guess we have no choice," Jack begrudgingly said. "We'll have to cancel the Heartless Halloween Festival for now."

"Here," Jack then said, giving a keychain to Sora. "I want you to have this."

"Visit us any time, Sora," Jack continued. "Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!"

"Emotion, memory..." the doctor read off the book nearby. "We put in all the necessary ingredients."

"What else do you need to make a heart?" he asked, turning his chair to face them. "What is a heart, anyway? I can't figure it out."

"Some say it's an organ that pumps blood through people," Vanitas said. "But we will never know the true meaning without years and years of research. And on that note, we have to leave. Take care."

The group waved goodbye to the scientists and left the lab.

"I thought you said you helped Ansem the Wise study the heart for a year?" Donald asked as they walked through the town square.

Vanitas nodded his head.

"So didn't you manage to figure out some of what was going on with the heart?" Goofy asked.

"I have ADHD and a memory problem," Vanitas told them. "I didn't figure out jack shit."

"I expected nothing less from you," Sora joked as they walked to the gate that led to the alleyway they arrived in.

"Thank you," Vanitas said, before realizing the full scope of what the younger boy said. "Hey, wait a second!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy laughed as they walked back towards the Gummi ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am happy to be back doing this


	20. Under the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes underwater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I run out of things to say in this

After flying for a good, long while, the gang came across a new world. From the outside, it looked like a giant underwater cavern.

"Okay, guys," Donald announced. "Prepare for landing."

"Land where?" Sora asked, genuinely confused. "In the sea? We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't," Donald announced. "Leave it to me!"

"I never trust you when you speak in that tone of voice," Vanitas admitted.

* * *

The four suddenly appeared with a flash of light in a circular underwater cavern, floating above the ground in the water, right in front of a gigantic clam shell. Sora was shirtless and had the lower half of a dolphin, complete with a dorsal fin. Donald was shirtless and had the lower half of an octopus. Goofy was a sea turtle with his head where the turtles' head was supposed to go. Vanitas was shirtless, showing off his tattoos, with his sling across his back holding his weapons. He thought he also had the lower half of a dolphin, but then he felt his suddenly sharper pointed teeth, and figured it out.

"Hilarious," Vanitas announced, sarcastically. "I'm a shark."

"Are you really that surprised?" Donald asked as he floated upside down.

"No," Vanitas admitted as both he and Sora swam upwards a bit. "I just don't think it's funny."

The group did their best to swim around before they took notice of someone swimming towards them from a cavern entrance in front of them.

A redheaded mermaid lady was swimming right towards her with a little flounder fish. She looked over her shoulder, no doubt talking to someone else.

"Come on, Sebastian!" she called out.

"Ariel, wait!" a small crab called out in a Jamaican accent as he followed them. "Slow down! Don't leave me behind."

"Sure," Vanitas said, shrugging his shoulders. "Why not?"

"We've definitely seen weirder," Sora agreed.

The crab called Sebastian swam into the cavern and came face-to-face with the upside down frowning face of Donald. He shrieked out in fear as the others swam towards the duck. He and the flounder fish then tried swimming behind the woman, who the four boys assumed was Ariel.

"Relax, Sebastian," Ariel tried calming the two down. "They don't look like one of them."

Donald had now straightened himself up and was no longer upside down.

"Right, Flounder?" Ariel asked, looking over her shoulder at the flounder fish with a smile.

"I don't know," the young Flounder admitted. "There's something weird about them."

Sora awkwardly laughed at that as he and Goofy tried to straigten themselves in the water.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Smooth," Vanitas whispered, at which Donald stealthily and softly elbowed him for.

"They do seem," Ariel said as Sora watched her swim around him, observing him. "A little different. Where are you from?"

"Um... We're from kind of far away," Sora uneasily said. "And we're not really used to these waters."

He shakily tried laughing to shake off the tension that wasn't there.

"Oh, I see," Ariel said in an understanding voice. "In that case, Sebastian can show you how we swim around here."

She gestured to the crab that was one again face-to-face with Donald's frown, which is was finally made the duck stop frowning.

"Ariel!" the crab fearfully exclaimed as he swam up to her head. "King Triton will not like this!"

_Man, this guy's tiny,_ Vanitas thought, which his fr... associates heard in their heads.

"Oh, don't worry," Ariel happily told Sebastian before she swam upwards.

"Easy for you to say," Sebastian commented before turning towards Sora and co. "Okay, it's time to learn how to swim properly."

He then showed them the right way for traversing around in these waters with a small demonstration.

"Practice swimming with Flounder," Sebastian continued. "Try to tag him. All right. Begin."

Small Flounder then started swimming around the cavern area that they were in, with Sora quickly arriving at the areas he had stopped in. The group quickly got used to swimming underwater with practice. In no time at all, Sora was keeping up with Flounder as they swam along.

"Good job," Sebastian praised. "Now let's move on to self defense."

Donald and Vanitas chuckled and were about to tell him it wouldn't be needed when Ariel called out the crab's name. He looked over to her to see her gesturing down the hallway they had come down earlier. Jellyfish like heartless were swimming down the hallway, right towards them.

"Class is over," Sebastian fearfully announced as he, Ariel, and Flounder swam past the group who metaphorically stood their ground. "Good luck!"

Ariel swam into another entranceway while Sebastian and Flounder hid in the giant clam shell.

"Time to go to work, boys," Vanitas announced, pulling out his spear.

"Come on!" Goofy exclaimed, rushing forward and swinging his shield.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and exclaimed as he shot fire at the jellyfish. Once they got in close enough range, Donald whacked one with his staff, and Vanitas stabbed one in the head with the tip of his spear. Donald launched up Thunder, taking out another one, and Sora finished off the last one by slashing through it with his Keyblade.

Once the danger was gone, Ariel swam back into the cavern, and Sora opened up the giant clam by attacking it with his Keyblade. It deposited Sebastian and Flounder, who swam up to Ariel.

"Those creatures chased us here," Ariel explained.

"Oh, no!" Sebastian exclaimed, swimming upwards. "Those monsters might be heading for the heading for the palace, too!"

"We'd better head back right away!" Ariel declared.

"But," Flounder said, fearful. "Wh-what if we run into more on our way back?"

"I'm sorry," Ariel said, turning towards the boys. "But we need your help. Please come to the palace with us. The trident markers on the walls point the way there. We won't get lost as long as we follow them."

After a second, she finished, "Okay, let's get going."

"Well," Vanitas said, shrugging his shoulders as his allies. "We didn't have anything better to do."

The group swam through the caverns, taking out heartless along the way. They made it out of the caverns and into the entrance of the palace. They swam through the entrance and made it into the palace throne room, as they were followed by scuba diver like heartless. All of a sudden, they were taken out by a yellow laser.

"That was too close," a regal like voice declared.

Ariel turned towards the throne and swam in front of the throne to join the others. A larger merman with long white hair and a white beard sat at the throne, holding a massive trident. A crown was on top of his head, signifying that he was important.

"As long as I have my trident," Triton announced. "I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

He turned towards the people in front of his throne.

"Daddy!" Ariel exclaimed happily, swimming up to face him.

"Oh, Ariel!" Triton exclaimed, at which the smile disappeared from her face. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

She looked to the side, not wanting to answer.

"Strange creatures lurk outside," he continued, looking towards the group of boys.

They were surprised to figure out he was implying the four of them, too.

_Devoted father,_ Vanitas thought. _Bit of a dick._

Sebastian cleared his throat, gesturing towards the king.

"Behold!" he announced. "You swim before the ruler of the seas: His majesty, King Triton."

"And who are they?" Triton asked, looking down at Sebastian.

"They helped us fight off those creatures," Ariel explained.

"They don't look familiar," Triton observed.

"We're from an ocean," Sora tried explaining. "Very far away."

"Well, he's getting better at this," Vanitas whispered to Donald.

"Yep," Goofy said, swimming around Sora. "We came to find the Keyhole."

Donald and Vanitas slapped themselves in their faces, agitated at their companion.

"The what?" Triton asked, shocked.

"What's that?" Ariel asked.

"Well," Goofy started explaining before the others could stop him. "It's a..."

"There's no such thing," Triton announced. "Certainly not here."

"But Daddy..." Ariel started, sad.

Triton looked at them scornfully.

"Ariel," he announced. "Not another word! You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?"

Ariel looked at her father angrily then swam back towards the exit. After a few seconds, the boys followed her. They left the palace and went into the cavern, at which Ariel turned towards them.

"Come to my grotto," she told them. "I want to show you something. There it is. See?"

Ariel gestured towards the giant boulder at the bottom of a wall. She started swimming towards it.

"If this is about to be what I think it's about to be," Vanitas muttered. "I'm getting the fuck out of there."

They swam over to the boulder and Sora and Vanitas pulled it out of the way, opening up the entrance, which they swam into.

The group swam through a corridor into a tall circular chamber, with many many ledges set up with various nooks and crannies that Vanitas recognized from Earth. Mirrors, vases, boxes, and chests with all kinds of things no doubt within them.

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected," Ariel told them. "I think it's all from the outside world."

There was even a mantle on the wall that looked like it could hold something shaped like the end of a trident.

"Someday," Ariel continued. "I'm going to see what's out there. I want to see other worlds. Does that sound strange?"

Sora and Vanitas both felt a little bit of familiarity in Ariel's words.

"No," Sora said. "Not at all."

"I know the feeling," Vanitas said, nostalgically as he crossed his arms and looked up in thought.

"I used to feel the same way," Sora added.

"Used to?" Ariel asked.

"I mean," Sora corrected himself. "I still do."

"Smooth," Vanitas whispered.

"Hey," Ariel said. "Why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?"

"But your father said..." Sora started saying.

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl," Ariel announced, annoyed in her father. "He never wants to let me do anything. He just... He just doesn't understand."

"Besides," Vanitas pointed out. "We already know that there is a Keyhole here. It's out job to find it, remember?"

"Let's get goin'," Goofy announced.

The group left Ariel's grotto and went back into the chambers of the undersea caverns. With the help of a very fast dolphin, they managed to enter a new underwater cave to find a sunken ship. They entered the ship, missing the ominous shadow pass above them.

They swam to the back of the ship, where the window was, just in time for a giant shark to crash through and bite at the air above them. The group ducked as the shark tried to bite at them. After a few seconds, the shark gave up and swam out of the ship.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Vanitas exclaimed.

"Let's hope it just goes away," Donald exclaimed, hopeful that would happen.

Shakily, Sora opened up the treasure chest with his Keyblade, revealing a small, crystal-shaped trident head.

"Hm," Ariel exclaimed. "It's shape reminds me of something..."

They exited the ship and quickly found the giant shark. Sora cast Aero on himself, and Vanitas pulled out his sledgehammer. Donald blasted fire, Ariel spun around attacking, Goofy attacked with his shield, and Vanitas attacked with his massive hammer. They did manage to do some damage to the shark, but the shark just shook it off and bit at them twice. Sora attacked the shark with combos while Donald blasted ice.

Vanitas swung his sledgehammer into the shark's back as it tried biting into his tail. Donald launched up Thunder while Ariel attacked the shark with her tail. Goofy rushed into the shark with his shield while Sora did a few more combo attacks. Sora finished it off by shooting fire at the shark, knocking it unconscious. After a few seconds, the shark swam straight up in the water, depositing some Potions and Ethers.

"Damn," Vanitas commented. "That was rough."

"You said it," Sora agreed.

The group made their way back to Ariel's grotto where they found Flounder waiting for them. He watched as they placed the crystal trident into the frame on the wall. After a few seconds of staring at it, the group was surprised by a booming voice that made itself known.

"Ariel," Triton announced. "You've disobeyed me again!"

The group turned towards the regal king who had swum into the chamber.

"I told you not to leave the palace!" he declared angrily.

His attention was drawn to the crystal trident held in place in the frame. His eyes widened and he raised his glowing trident.

"Daddy, no!" Ariel exclaimed.

He ignored her and blasted a yellow beam into the crystal. It shattered.

"How could you..." Ariel asked, hurt, while the others looked at the king with wide eyes.

Ariel swam out of the chamber. Triton watched her swim away for a second before he turned towards the boys.

"Young man," he announced. "You are _not _from another ocean. You are from another world. Aren't you?"

"Huh?" Sora asked, curious to how the man knew. Vanitas was, too. Even if they weren't the most conspicuous, they were very good at being careful with revealing too much information.

"Then you must be the key bearer," Triton continued.

"How did you know?" Sora asked.

"It's supposed to be a secret," Vanitas pointed out.

"You may fool Ariel," Triton declared. "But you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

Sora uneasily sighed at that.

"As the key bearer," Triton continued. "You must already know. One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Of course I know that," Sora exclaimed. "But..."

"You have violated this principle," Triton declared.

"You prick!" Vanitas exclaimed. "We're stopping the monsters that want to meddle in the affairs."

"Even so," Triton continued. "The key bearer shatters peace and brings ruin."

"Aw, Sora's not like that," Goofy said.

"That's only one legend," Donald pointed out, remembering Vanitas' earlier words. "The other says they saved the world. We just don't know which one did which."

"I thank you for saving my daughter," Triton said, turning towards the exit of the grotto. "But there is no room in my ocean for you and your key."

Sora looked down at the Keyblade in his hands with wide eyes.

"Don't listen to him," Vanitas told his younger associate, patting him on the shoulder. "He's just an asshole."

"Yeah," Donald said, surprised he was actually agreeing with Vanitas. "You're not like that at all."

Sora just looked down and looked back up, dismissing his Keyblade.

"Come on," Sora said. "Let's go find Ariel. She's gonna need some cheering up."

The others nodded their heads in agreement and followed Sora out of the grotto.


	21. Underwater confrontations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang does some more fighting underwater

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luckily with Thanksgiving break coming up, I should have more chances to update

After processing Triton's words for a few seconds, the gang decided to follow him back to the palace to give him a piece of their minds, with Vanitas rooting for this plan greatly. They swam through the caverns and through the palace into the throne room, but were surprised at what they found.

A large, fat, half octopus woman was hovering in front of Ariel and Triton, holding the king's trident. Triton was on his throne, clearly in pain, as two electric eels swam around. Ariel looked at the woman, devastated. The woman then looked over her shoulder, noticing the approaching four.

"Why, we have company," she said to the eels as they got close to her.

She gestured with her arms and looked up.

"I'm afraid you're a little late, handsome," she chuckled.

She then engulfed herself in a giant cloud of black ink. By the time the group were in front of the throne, then ink cloud had faded, and the woman was gone.

"She was talking about me," Vanitas said, awkwardly, trying to ease the tension. It didn't work.

"Daddy!" Ariel exclaimed, looking at her dad, devastated.

"The trident..." Triton announced, weakly. "We must get it back."

"Come on," Sora announced, looking over his shoulder at Donald. "Let's go!"

"Let's get that bitch!" Vanitas declared. He pulled out one of his rifles, just now noticing that it was jammed by the water around them.

_Fuck,_ he thought. _This is gonna be a bitch to fix up._

The group of four started swimming out of the throne room, but stopped when Ariel swam in front of them and faced them.

"Wait," Ariel announced. "I'm going with you! My father is hurt and it's all my fault. I have to stop Ursula!"

"All right," Vanitas casually said as he shrugged his shoulders.

The others nodded their heads in agreement.

"That's right," Sebastian announced. "I'm right behind you, Ariel."

"Like you're gonna be there fighting with us," Donald said, annoyed.

"Ursula draws power from her cauldron," Triton announced, weakly, from his throne. "To defeat Ursula, you must strike her cauldron with magic."

The group took heed of his words and swam out the palace, replenishing their health and energy along the way.

They eventually reached the cavern where the shipwreck was, where they figured the way to Ursula's lair was. They swam down to where a submerged smaller boat was covering up the side of the rock wall. Once the group got close enough, they found that the boat was covering up the way to a secret button.

"Need some help?" Sebastian asked. "I'll show you how it's done."

As Sebastian swam into the slot towards the button, Vanitas leaned in next to Donald.

"Becomes useful once," he muttered to the duck with his arms crossed. "And his head swells to three times its original size."

Sebastian pressed the button, and the giant boulder blocking their way lowered into the ground, revealing the path they needed to take.

"Let's keep moving, guys," Sora remarked.

They swam through some more ominous looking corridors, taking out heartless along the way, and made it into the entrance of a crazy looking fish designed monument.

"Of course," Vanitas remarked, his eyebrow raised, uneasily. "A crazy sea witch calls a place like this home."

The others shared his unease, but entered the cavern, (which was pretty much the inside of the dead fish), swimming over hundreds of small beings on the floor that didn't exactly look nice.

"What are they?" Goofy asked as they swam through the cavern.

"People who made deals with Ursula," Ariel explained.

"How do you know that?" Sora asked, looking at her as they swam.

"I heard about all kinds of people making deals with her," Ariel explained. "They never returned. This must be what happened to them."

"This is not a pretty sight," Vanitas remarked, looking down at the beings below them.

"You think if we defeat Ursula," Donald said. "We'll help them, too?"

"Let's hope so," Sora remarked.

"Agreed," Vanitas said. "Otherwise, I have no idea what to do."

They went through the cavern and entered a large, circular chamber that they concluded was Ursula's lair. A large cauldron was in the middle, a big port was on the opposite side of the entrance, and a big vanity mirror with a make up stand was on the right side. Ursula hovered over the edge of the big port, looking all kinds of angry.

"Come out!" Donald taunted. "You can't run!"

"Your time has come!" Sebastian added from on top of Donald's head.

Ursula exited the port and faced the group. The angry expression on her face scared the bravery out of Donald and Sebastian, who screamed in fear.

"Geez," Vanitas exclaimed, pulling out his baseball bat. "You are one ugly bitch."

Ursula just smiled a creepy smile and looked at her two electric eels which swam into view from each side of her. She then looked up from the two of them towards the five in the group.

Donald started it by launching up Thunder, which came back down to strike the cauldron and Ursula. The lightning didn't have much of an effect on Ursula, but it made the water in the cauldron turn red, which Sora and Vanitas understood immediately. Vanitas nodded his head at Sora and charged the sea witch with Ariel and Goofy, while Sora pointed his Keyblade at the cauldron. He shot fire at the cauldron just as a green light erupted over it. The fire deflected off the water and almost hit Donald.

Meanwhile, Ursula had floated up over the charging group while the electric eels charged at them, muttering words they didn't understand. Vanitas whacked one in the face with his bat and swam up after Ursula while Sora tried blasting fire at the cauldron again twice. She ended up swimming away from Vanitas, who then had to help Donald and Ariel, who were being attacked by the eels. Donald managed to whack it with his staff, but the eel still managed to get him with its tail. Vanitas swam over to his comrade, picked up the eel, and tied it into a knot. The eel looked at him the whole time, confused at why he wasn't being electrocuted.

"I don't feel pain," Vanitas told the eel before throwing it up, causing it to float to the cavern ceiling.

Luckily, Ursula had floated down to the cauldron just as Sora used Fira on the giant thing once again. This time, it erupted in magic that released a giant shockwave damaged Ursula, making her dizzy, but didn't harm the five in the group. This allowed the group to attack her. Sora rushed in with combo attacks with his Keyblade, Vanitas knocked her around with his bat, Ariel attacked with her tail, Donald whacked her with his staff, and Goofy rushed in to attack with his shield. They managed to do a good amount of damage to her before she woke up.

Ursula then laughed wickedly and spun around the cavern, using her tentacles as weapons, damaging everyone. Once the coast was clear, Sora threw up a Mega Potion, healing his friends, which they needed. They charged her once again, this time, Vanitas helped Sora deal with the cauldron with the fireballs from his hand.

"Seriously," Vanitas remarked, ducking an attack from the eel that managed to untie itself. "How can we do fire underwater but my guns are jammed?"

"The mysteries of the worlds," Sora remarked, knocking the other eel unconscious with his Keyblade. "We may never find out."

"Work on the cauldron," Vanitas told Sora as he looked up to see Goofy get knocked unconscious by the sea witch. "I gotta help the others."

Vanitas swam up just as Donald ducked Ursula's next attack, which would have knocked him unconscious. He swam up behind the sea witch and raised his bat, but she turned around suddenly and knocked it out of his hands. Recuperating quickly, Vanitas punched at the half octopus with his right hand, then his left hand, but she caught both of them. At the evil look on Ursula's face, Vanitas decided to be smart and did a sort of backflip as she still held his hands, whacking her in the face with his tail. She exclaimed in pain and released his hands, her own going to her face. Vanitas then rushed in and punched the woman in her massive stomach, which caused her hands to go there instead. Her face clear, Vanitas punched her there next, knocking her back.

"How long were you looking for an excuse to punch a woman in the face?" Donald asked, swimming up to his comrade.

"Two months," Vanitas admitted, looking over his shoulder at the other half octopus. "I mean, I could do it. You know, gender equality. But I never had a good enough reason to do it and not looking like I was only doing it 'cause she's a woman. I'm not an asshole."

At Donald's knowing expression, Vanitas closed his eyes.

"I'm not _that much_ of an asshole," Vanitas corrected himself.

The two turned back towards Ursula, who was once again knocked dizzy with the help of the cauldron. Once again, the group relentlessly attacked her, this time with Ariel using a spinning attack similar to what Goofy was doing, and Vanitas just punching since his bat was on the floor. They managed to knock down her health enough, but she woke up before they were able to finish her off.

"Get up and fight!" Ursula exclaimed, at which the eels woke up as magic appeared over their heads.

She then laughed wickedly once again as she spun around again, using her tentacles as weapons. Sora and Vanitas managed to dodge them while the others went after the eels. After Donald used Cura on himself and Goofy, Ursula stopped spinning and threw something into the cauldron. After the water turned red, Sora and Vanitas got the message.

This time, the two combined their levels of fire. Vanitas threw a fireball at the cauldron just as Sora shot out Fira. The two orbs of flame combined in the air as they flew into the cauldron. After doing this two more times while dodging the eels, the cauldron erupted in one more shockwave, finishing off the eels and Ursula, who muttered "Impossible."

The two eels floated up in the water and disappeared in a flash of black smoke and green fire. Ursula exclaimed in surprise as Sora and Vanitas floated up in front of her.

"You'll pay for this!" she declared before swimming into her port.

She even dispelled black ink, making it impossible for the group to follow after her.

"Let's go," Ariel announced. "We must get the trident back."

"Looks like we're not following her through that way," Vanitas remarked.

"There might be another way," Sora announced, an idea forming in his head. "Come on, let's go."

It turned out that his idea was valid. They went through a small circular chamber that was particularly hard to swim through due to the strong currents, but got through and went through an entrance that led them to the open ocean, where Ursula was waiting for them while holding the trident.

"What do you know," Vanitas remarked, looking at Sora as they swam towards Ursula. "For a guy with such a small brain, you can have some pretty good ideas."

"I don't know whether that's a compliment or an insult," Sora remarked as they reached Ursula.

"You pathetic fools!" Ursula yelled at the five of them. "I rule the seas now!"

She spun around as she swam up, and the trident flashed golden. Black clouds appeared below the group as Ursula started... growing?

"The sea and all its spoils bow to my power!" Ursula declared before she disappeared in the smoke as it continued to rise in the water.

The group swam up and turned around, surprised to see that Ursula was now a giant smiling at them with a crown on her head, still holding the now massive trident.

"If you think this is helping your looks," Vanitas yelled up at the giant sea witch. "It's not!"

Thinking his bat wouldn't cause as much of an impact this time, Vanitas pulled out his sledgehammer and joined the group as they rushed towards Ursula, dodging her attacks as they got in close. Sora went behind her head and attacked her with combo attacks, Ariel did her spin attack while Donald and Goofy whacked her with their weapons, and Vanitas hit her in the face with his sledgehammer. The whole time they had to dodge the attacks of undersea lightning.

After attacking her for a little while, the group then had to dodge it as she spat out bubbles at them. Vanitas was already a fan of dodging them because they seemed gross. The only problem was that it was sometimes hard to dodge the attacks of undersea lightning. She also occasionally shot lightning at them from out of her mouth, which also seemed gross. They even had to dodge it when she tried sucking them into her mouth, again, which seemed gross.

The fight wasn't really that memorable or eventful. It was just simple dodging, knowing when to attack, and when to run. Unfortunately, only Sora and Vanitas knew when the right time to run was, so they others occasionally got knocked unconscious by her attacks. Particularly the one where she surrounded herself with undersea lightning. Eventually, after about five minutes of fighting and dodging (Vanitas was keeping track in his head), the group managed to finish off Ursula, who didn't react to it too well.

The giant sea witch grabbed her throat as bubbles came out her mouth and electricity surrounded her. She then shook around, waved her arms back and forth, and eventually screamed as the electricity and her own clouds of darkness overtook her. A beam of light erupted where she was overtaken, and once it faded, the trident was floating in it's place.

"That was surprisingly easy," Vanitas said in a comforted voice.

The others nodded their heads in agreement.

* * *

The group made their way back to the throne room where they gave King Triton back his trident. He had healed a bit so he was looking much better.

"Daddy, I'm so sorry," Ariel said, looking down.

"Please don't be angry with her," Sora insisted.

The others were about to add on to that, but Triton beat them to it.

"It's my fault," the king announced. "You followed Ursula because... I wouldn't let you follow your heart. And when you found that crystal, I lost my temper and destroyed it."

"Yeah," Vanitas said, looking down and crossing his arms. "That thing must have been worth a fortune."

"Oh, yeah," Goofy remembered. "The crystal! Why did you destroy it?"

"That crystal held the power to reveal the Keyhole," Triton told them. "The Keyhole is dangerous. I had to keep you away from it at any cost."

"Daddy..." Ariel said, understanding his words.

"Key bearer," Triton said, looking at Sora. "I have one more request: Seal the Keyhole."

"My trident also holds the power to reveal the Keyhole," he continued. "Will you do it?"

"Of course," Sora answered. "That's what we had in mind from the start."

"Where is the Keyhole, Daddy?" Ariel asked.

"You should know better than anyone," Triton answered. "It's in your grotto."

"That frame!" Donald remembered, pointing with his finger.

"That's smart," Vanitas said, sounding genuinely impressed.

"Really," Goofy observed. "Sora, let's go."

As they were swimming, Sora felt new energy surge through him, upgrading his Thunder attack. He now knew Thundara. Vanitas had even found an Ansem's Report in the process.

They reached the grotto and Ariel held up the glowing trident to the frame. The crystal somehow reappeared, and glowed a bright blue light. Bubbles appeared on the ground in front of the frame and rose in the water. After a few seconds of bubbles floating up, an aquatic looking mantle appeared with a glowing Keyhole in the center.

Sora pointed his Keyblade at the Keyhole and stars appeared at the tip. A beam then shot out the blade into the Keyhole, which caused blue light to appear. A locking sound emerged from the Keyhole, and the frame disappeared into bubbles that floated up and vanished.

Once the light show ended, Ariel swam up to Sora.

"Tell me, Sora," she said. "Your world, what's it like?"

"Oh, about that," Sora said, turning to look at her. "Sorry for lying to you."

"It's... part of the job description," Vanitas added, embarrassed.

"It's okay," Ariel laughed.

"Besides," she continued as she started swimming up. "If you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too."

The others watched as she swam up to look out the hole in the top, letting in light.

"So many places I want to see," Ariel said. "I know I'll get there one day. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."

Behind the four boys, Sebastian groaned, tired.

"Well, if you find it," he declared, sadly. "Do me a favor and leave me out of it."

Vanitas and Donald chuckled at that before they said their goodbyes and made their way back to the gummi ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still remember the first ever time I fought mega Ursula while playing this game. I didn't find out where I was supposed to go until after I had finished Hollow Bastion (I wasn't as good at the game when I was a kid as I am now), so the battle ended up being pretty easy since I had leveled up a lot more and had better Keyblades on me


	22. Trouble with Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After patching a few things up, the gang stumbles onto a new world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry the name isn't as clever

"I don't get it," Vanitas announced as they flew in the ship through the Lanes Between, tinkering with his rifles and shotgun. "How did your magic enable us to make fire underwater, but my guns couldn't shoot?"

"I don't know," Donald admitted. "Maybe it only sees certain things as essentials.

Vanitas pulled out the magazine of his M4, and water spilled onto the floor of the ship. He slowly looked up at his allies, Sora holding a towel that he had asked the younger boy to get.

"Well," Vanitas remarked. "They won't be firing anytime soon, so I'll have to stick with handguns in the next world."

"If you don't mind me saying," Goofy said, suddenly. "The tattoos didn't look as good on you down there as they did when you showed them to us."

"Yeah," Vanitas agreed, looking down at his bare forearm, revealing one of the tattoos. "I might deal with them later."

"What the wak?" Donald asked, and the others looked at the ship's computer, confused.

"Uh, a big ship is catching up to us," Goofy announced, confused.

A large pirate ship then flew through the air in front of them.

"Quit gawking!" Donald exclaimed. "That's a pirate ship!"

The boat then twirled around and started flying towards the gummi ship.

"It's going to ram us!" Sora exclaimed.

"Hold on!" Vanitas added.

* * *

Once Sora and Vanitas were able to process where they were, they found that they were on the front part, right under the first mast. Donald and Goofy were gone, so they tried looking around to see if they could spot their friends. So far, nothing. Sora suddenly turned around and looked over the ledges to see someone they knew was on the ship, next to one of the masts. Vanitas turned around, curiously, to also see someone they knew.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," Riku announced.

Sora gasped at the sight of his old friend.

"Son of a bitch," Vanitas said, annoyed.

"Good to see you again," Riku added.

"Wh-where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked, his determination slowly growing.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku asked with a frown on his face. "More important than old friends?"

"How dumb are you?" Vanitas asked. "Again, he went with us with the intention of finding _you._"

Riku just shot a dirty look Vanitas' way then looked back at Sora.

"Instead of worrying about them," Riku continued. "You should be asking... about her."

Riku stepped to the side to reveal a short, redheaded girl kneeling down against the mast, her face blank. Vanitas recognized the girl as the familiar looking girl that vanished back on the island.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed.

"That's right," Riku exclaimed, cockily. "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."

Sora and Vanitas started running forwards, but were stopped by a hook appearing in front of them. They looked up to see a pirate that Vanitas swore looked familiar.

"Not so fast," the pirate, Hook, exclaimed. "No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy."

Hook then looked at Vanitas angrily.

"It is a displeasure to see you again," he remarked.

"You know this guy?" Sora asked Vanitas.

"I think," Vanitas started. "I might have kicked him in the nuts once."

"Of course you did," Sora said, sarcastically.

He then looked up at Riku.

"Riku," Sora exclaimed as pirate heartless appeared nearby. "Why are you siding with the heartless?"

"Kind of a dick thing to do," Vanitas remarked.

"The heartless obey me now, Sora," Riku told them. "Now I have nothing to fear."

"Your stupid," Sora exclaimed. "Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart."

"Not a chance," Riku remarked. "My heart's too strong."

"Riku..." Sora said, helplessly.

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well," Riku continued. "Like this, for instance."

He raised up his hand, and Sora's shadow rose out of the ground and floated in front of the two. Sora and Vanitas were both shocked.

"You can go see your friends now," Riku announced, turning away.

A trapdoor opened below both Sora and Vanitas, dropping them into who knows what.

* * *

"You don't say?" Goofy asked as Sora and Vanitas recounted what happened up there to them.

"Yeah," Sora exclaimed happily. "It was definitely Kairi. I've finally found her."

"It only took you ten worlds to do it," Vanitas chuckled.

"All right!" Goofy chuckled. "Then let's go up and talk to her."

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

"Sounds great," Donald agreed. "Okay, but first..."

"How about getting off!" Donald yelled as Sora and Vanitas continued to lay on him and Goofy.

"Oh," Sora chuckled, embarrassed. "Sorry."

"You guys were just very comfortable," Vanitas said as they stood up.

They walked towards the closed door and looked through the square shaped hole in the door. There were heartless around, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle.

"Ahem!" a voice announced from behind some barrels.

"How you doin' there? Looking for a way out?"

A redheaded boy in green jumped out with a front flip and landed in front of them. Vanitas couldn't help but think this guy looked familiar, too.

"Who are you?" Goofy asked.

"I'm the answer to your prayers," the boy answered, pointing one finger up.

Donald just tapped his foot with his arms crossed at the boy, who looked in surprise at Vanitas.

"Hey, V!" he said, happily. "Long time, no see! How you been?"

Vanitas raised his eyebrow at the boy.

"I've lost my memories," Vanitas remarked. "No offense, but I don't remember who you are."

"Well," the boy shrugged his shoulders. "As long as we can still have that sword fight later."

"Right," Vanitas said, sarcastically.

The gang was silent for a few seconds.

"Okay, then," the boy said, now angry. "Fine. Have it your way."

"But you're stuck in here, too, aren't you?" Sora asked.

The boy scoffed and crossed his arms, looking up.

"No," the boy answered. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?" Sora asked.

All of a sudden, a bright circle of light flew around Sora a few times and then towards the boy in green.

"Tinker Bell," he said. "What took you so long?"

The light faded, and a small blonde woman in a green dress with wings was in place of the light. She faced the boy as she flew in the air.

"Great job," the boy congratulated her. "So you found Wendy?"

The sound of bells ringing sounded from her.

"Hold on," the boy said. "There was another girl there, too?"

The others looked at each other, a silent agreement passing between them. Tinker Bell crossed her arms at the boy.

"Are you crazy?" he asked her. "There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!"

"Aha," Donald declared, happily. "She must be pretty jealous."

"Sounds like it, that's for sure," Vanitas added as he and Donald laughed.

Tinker Bell turned around and faced the two angrily. She kicked first Donald, then Vanitas in the chins.

"She says she didn't miss you," the boy told Vanitas.

"The feeling's mutual," Vanitas remarked as the fairy flew out the hole in the door.

"Come on, Tink!" the boy called out. "Open up the door!"

"Ahem!" Sora coughed, his Keyblade in his hand.

"Hm," the boy relented, then held out his hand. "I'm Peter Pan."

"I'm Sora," Sora said, trying to take Peter's hand, but the boy suddenly pulled it back.

"Okay," Peter said. "We're in this together, but only 'til we find Wendy."

He finished with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face.

"You seem like a douche bag," Vanitas commented. "Yeah, I believe we've met before."

Peter chuckled, even though he didn't know what a douche bag was.

"So," Peter said, waving one hand. "How do you plan on..."

Vanitas answered his unfinished question by kicking the door open, breaking the wood barring it from the other side. The others looked at him proudly before they looked back at the surprised face of Peter.

"... I could have done that," he finally said.

"So why didn't you?" Sora asked, knowingly.

Instead of answering, Peter just followed the group out of the cell and immediately got to work fighting heartless. Vanitas finally put his revolver into use as he put some well aimed bullets into the heartless' heads. Donald used some spells to help along while Peter flew around, stabbing at the pirates. Sora did the usual combo attacks, but added a few special swings that he's learned throughout their journey so far. Goofy did his usual system of spinning around or throwing his shield. Why he never used any kind of magic, Vanitas would never know.

The group fought their way through waves and waves of heartless as they traversed through cabins and the lower levels of the ship and eventually made it into a sort of resting chamber below the prison cells, where Goofy decided to finally ask Peter a pertinent question.

"So, uh," he started as he stopped. "How come you can fly?"

"Anyone can fly," Peter expressed, gesturing with his arms to exemplify his point. "You wanna try?"

The others stopped as Peter hovered down to the floor in front of them. Peter whistled with his fingers, and the others watched as Tinker Bell came out of nowhere and flew towards Peter.

"Why do I feel like I've witnessed this before?" Vanitas whispered, which his fr... companions heard.

"You probably did," Donald pointed out.

"Just don't remember it," Sora expressed further.

Vanitas nodded his head and agreement and watched with them as Tinker Bell floated in front of Peter.

"Aw, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?" Peter asked her.

Tinker Bell begrudgingly let Peter hold her by one of her wings and let him carry her as he flew over the four others. Golden, sparkly dust fell onto the four as Sora held his fists up in anticipation.

"Just a little bit of pixie dust," Peter explained as he floated above them. "There. Now you can fly."

Donald decided to test this theory by jumping up in the air and waving his arms. He only stayed in the air long enough for an average jump before he fell to the ground onto his front. As he lay there, Tinker Bell flew near his head and laughed at him, which sounded like ringing bells, just like all her dialogue.

"Oh, yeah," Vanitas said, crossing his arms. "I think I remember, it doesn't work just like that."

"You couldn't have said that before I jumped in the air like an idiot?" Donald asked, looking up at his companion in scorn.

"How would that be funny?" Vanitas asked, genuinely curious.

Everyone broke out in laughter, and after a second, Donald joined them by smirking.

As Donald stood up, Peter noticed Tinker Bell gesturing to one of the floor grates above the room separating them from the prison cells.

"What is it, Tink?" he asked her as he flew towards it with her.

They then heard an English voice ask "Peter? Peter Pan?"

All of a sudden, a brunette girl wearing a blue night gown was kneeling on the grate, looking down at the group. Sora and company assumed this girl was Wendy. Which was further exemplified when Peter exclaimed "Wendy!"

"Please hurry!" she exclaimed. "The pirates are coming!"

"What!" Peter asked. "I'll be right up there! Just hold on!"

"I can help," Vanitas offered as he pulled out his sledgehammer.

"Wendy?" Sora suddenly asked, stopping Vanitas briefly.

"Yes?" she asked, uncertainly.

"Is there another girl in there with you?" Sora asked.

"Oh, why, yes," Wendy said, looking up at Kairi across from her. "But she seems to be asleep. She hasn't budged an inch."

"That doesn't make any sense," Vanitas told Donald and Goofy. "When we saw her, her eyes were open, even though she looked blank. That shouldn't be possible." 

_Unless..._

Sora ignored the unspoken word on all four of their minds and turned towards where he saw Kairi's leg was resting on the grate on the floor to her/ceiling to the group.

"Kairi?" he asked. "Kairi!"

Her hand fell on the grate, and Sora reached his hand out, a sad look on his face. He exclaimed as he hoped she could hear him. Kairi's fingers then twitched, and Sora laughed happily.

"Why do you have to be so damn dramatic?" Vanitas asked, genuinely curious, and Donald looked like he agreed with the ravenette.

All of a sudden, the sound of a door closing originated, and Kairi's leg moved out of view, and Wendy exclaimed.

"Wendy!" Peter exclaimed. He looked over his shoulder at the others. "Hey, let's get up there!"

"Out of the way," Vanitas said as he moved forward with his sledgehammer in his hands.

Peter listened and watched as Vanitas hit at the grate with his sledgehammer, a few times. After a few swings, he managed to dent two of the metal components, but not by a lot.

"Can you knock it in?" Donald asked.

"Maybe," Vanitas said, looking up at the netting. "But it could take hours."

"Which we don't have," Peter expressed.

"Maybe we don't have to," Sora announced, garnering their attention.

They followed his gaze to the other side of the room, where there were two other grates on the ceiling, but these two had holes in them big enough for people to fit through.

"How convenient," Goofy said.

The others agreed and ran across the room, jumping up through one of the grates. They ended up in a hallway, and ran to the door that they knew was the cell Wendy and Kairi were in. Peter pounded on the door, trying to get Wendy's attention.

"Wendy," he called out. "Are you in there?"

"There might be another way in," Vanitas told the flying boy.

The others went into a crews' quarters and found a ladder up to another level. The went up it to find the Captain's quarters. They ran in front of a table to find a trapdoor that they guessed should lead to the cell Wendy was in, but their attention was drawn to who was standing on it.

Riku stood on the grate facing them, with Kairi in his arms and an exit door right behind him.

"Riku, wait!" Sora exclaimed, holding out a hand to his friends.

RIku just slowly walked backwards away from him as a shadow on the floor came out the bottom of the floor and passed under Riku, so it was now between the silver haired boy and the brunette boy. A shadow Sora complete with a replica Keyblade popped out of the shadow and stood in a battle stance.

"This is gonna feel weird," Vanitas observed, pulling out his Glock and Colt.

Donald blasted fire at the Shadow Sora, Sora rushed in and did a combo attack, and Vanitas started shooting his guns at the shadow. Peter rushed in and stabbed at the shadow as it just casually walked forwards. Donald then blasted ice at it as Sora and Goofy cornered it with their attacks. The shadow then retreated into the floor and went under the two before popping up in front of Vanitas and attacking the ravenette with a combo attack.

With his Colt empty of ammo, Vanitas raised his Glock and shot it repeatedly at the shadow's head. When the ammo ran out, he tossed his guns aside and backflipped away from the shadow as Goofy came in for another spin attack. Donald then tried using the Gravity magic they had learned earlier to make it become pressed into the ground. It didn't work, and the shadow instead rushed next to the duck and did a combo attack on him.

Sora countered for his friend with his own combo attack on the shadow, which then sunk back into the floor. When it came back up, two copies of itself appeared with it. Luckily, Vanitas managed to sneak up on one and grab it by it's shadowy jacket. Unfortunately, it was only a copy, but it was still a good thing when Vanitas cracked it's neck. While Vanitas was curious that the neck actually cracked, he shrugged it off and pulled out his sledgehammer again.

Vanitas turned towards his allies to witness them taking out the other copy, but then struggling to deal with the original. It had knocked out Peter and was right about to do the same to Donald. Vanitas rushed forwards and swung his sledgehammer at the shadow's head, but then it retreated back to the ground, and he instead his Goofy in the stomach. The dog clutched his stomach in pain and fell to his knees.

"Oops," Vanitas said, genuinely embarrassed and upset. "Sorry."

The shadow popped into view again and attacked Vanitas with a combo once again. Donald blasted ice at the shadow, but it retaliated by doing a combo attack, knocking him unconscious.

Sora then ran in and attacked it with Sonic Blade, getting in plenty of attacks before it made copies of itself again. Vanitas didn't waste time and shot the copies in their heads with his revolver. They disappeared, and Sora used another combo attack on the shadow. Vanitas emptied his revolver into the shadow's head while Peter Pan and Goofy recovered from their wounds.

Peter flew in and stabbed at the shadow just as it knocked Sora aside with it's shadow Keyblade. Vanitas joined in and threw his sledgehammer across the room at the shadow. After the hammer hit the shadow, it fell to the floor, splintering some of the wood. Weaponless, Vanitas ran towards the shadow. He grabbed it by the shoulder, punched it in the face, and threw it at Sora, who did his combo finisher, knocking it onto the floor.

The shadow floated above the ground, above a circle of darkness on the floor. After a few seconds of it floating there, it retreated into the circle of darkness, which then disappeared.

"Your shadow can pack a punch," Vanitas commented.

"So can your hammer," Goofy commented, still holding his midsection, where the sledgehammer had hit him.

"Sorry about that," Vanitas said once again as he gathered his weapons.

Once the gang had recuperated enough, they decided to open the trapdoor and climbed down inside, which confirmed to them that it led to the room Wendy was in.

Peter flew into the room and gathered the unconscious form of Wendy in his arms.

"Wendy!" he exclaimed.

Tinker Bell flew around him, possibly chastising him once again.

"Come on, Tink!" he exclaimed, waving his arm. "Not now!"

She flew away as Peter started picking up Wendy.

"Well," he told the others as he stood up with her in his arms. "This is as far as I can go. I've gotta help Wendy."

He flew through the trapdoor once again then left their eyesights.

"Let's get moving," Vanitas announced.

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "We've gotta stop Hook!"

"And Riku!" Sora agreed.

The group left the room, ready to face whatever else was on the ship.


	23. Pirates and Phantoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group takes on Hook, and then something... interesting at the clock tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much could have been done with the chapter title

The group went into the outside of the ship, and found themselves face to face with Captain Hook.

"Quite a codfish, that Riku," Hook told them, jokingly. "Running off with that girl without even saying goodbye.

"Run off where?" Sora asked, angry. "Tell me, where did he go?"

He slashed his Keyblade through the air in anger.

"To the ruins of Hollow Bastion," Hook explained. "Where Maleficent resides. But you won't be going there."

He picked up a lantern that his right hand man, Smee was holding. Within the lantern was Tinker Bell. Sora gasped in surprise.

"How often does she get captured?" Vanitas whispered, remembering something from the furthest reaches of his memory.

"Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind?" Hook continued, tapping the lantern with his hook.

"Damn it," Vanitas whispered.

Sora moaned out in agreement before he dismissed his Keyblade.

The Heartless quickly surrounded the quartet.

"Hand over the Keyblade and I'll spare your lives," Hook told them. "Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the Heartless. So, which will it be? The Keyblade, or the plank?"

He gestured to the plank next to him with his hook.

"You really have no idea how the Keyblade works, do you?" Vanitas asked.

The others nodded their heads in agreement at Hook's expanse.

All of a sudden, a ticking sound originated from somewhere, and Hook's attention was drawn to the water. Curious, Vanitas looked down there, too, to see a crocodile he remembered slightly.

"It's him!" Hook exclaimed, fearfully. "The crocodile that took me hand!"

"Oh, Smee," Hook exclaimed to his right hand man as he gave back the lantern. "He's after me other hand! I can't stay here!"

The others just watched as Hook acted like a baby.

"Go away!" Hook yelled as he went up to the door that led to the Captain's quarters. "Oh, I can't stand the sight of him! Smee, you take care of them!"

Hook retreated into the captains quarters as Sora was forced on the plank by the heartless, and Vanitas stood next to Smee.

"You've aged well, Smee," Vanitas attempted to make small talk.

"As did you," Smee said to Vanitas. "Well, except the scar on your face. That's new."

"It's been rough," Vanitas admitted, looking out at Sora, who was looking down at the plank. "Any chance you could let us go?"

"Sorry," Smee said, genuinely sounding sorry. "The captain wouldn't like that."

"No offense, man," Vanitas said. "But you need to grow a spine."

Vanitas and the others watched as Sora was forced to the edge of the plank. He looked down at the water at the crocodile, who had his mouth wide open.

"Fly, Sora!" both Sora and Vanitas heard Peter Pan's voice. "Just believe, and you can do it!"

Sora faced the people and the heartless, then closed his eyes. He jumped off the plank, and just as the crocodile snapped at him, pixie dust surrounded the boy, and he flew up in the air. Sora flew over the ship and faced everyone, just as Peter snatched the lantern out of Smee's hands. Peter and Sora hovered down onto the ship in front of the heartless as Smee ran for it. Peter opened the lantern and Tinker Bell flew out.

"Thanks, Peter," Sora said.

"Took you long enough," Vanitas commented with a smile.

"Hey, don't mention it," Peter said. "You didn't think I'd leave you guys and Tink behind, did you?"

The group regathered and faced the heartless still around.

"You're all going down!" Sora announced.

With their new ability to fly, it was made easier than it would have been. Donald quickly used Aero to cast a shield around himself, and launched up Thunder. Goofy did a spin attack while Sora flew around then came back down and did a combo attack on a pirate heartless.

"Now you know how it felt to be Stark!" Vanitas called out to Sora before he slashed through a pirate with his machete.

Sora laughed at that before he continued with the combo and took out the heartless. Peter then knocked a heartless forwards a bit before he cast Stop magic on it, which froze it in it's place. Sora used a combo attack on the heartless, and when the magic wore off, it was destroyed.

Once the regular pirates were destroyed, pirates with wings on their shoulders showed up and started flying around, attacking. The group flew up one by one and started attacking in retaliation. Sora attacked one with a combo, Vanitas attacked another with his machete and axe, Donald blasted multiple spells at another, Goofy smacked his shield into another, and Peter repeatedly stabbed the last one with his dagger.

Eventually, all the heartless were destroyed, including one designed like a living battle ship. With the heartless gone, the only problem left was Hook. Peter, Sora, and Vanitas stood near the door to his quarters, ready to draw him out. Peter started by knocking on the door.

"Is that you, Smee?" Hook asked through the door. "Did you finish them off?"

Peter held his nose so when he talked, it was a nasally accurate imitation of Smee's.

"Aye, Captain," he said. "They walked the plank, every last one of them."

They stood out of the way as Hook came out and looked around in confusion. Peter then ran in quickly and jabbed Hook in the butt with his dagger. Hook jumped up and screamed out as Peter backed away from him. The pirate captain looked over his shoulder at the group standing behind him.

"P-Peter Pa-," Hook stammered out. "Blast you!"

"Ready to make a splash, you codfish?" Peter asked. "Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"

He pointed at Hook defiantly, while Sora and Vanitas healed the group with Mega-Potions and Mega-Ethers. Going for a slightly less lethal approach than usual, Vanitas replaced his machete and axe with his spear.

Sora rushed in just as Hook leaped over the group. As the pirate captain landed, Donald and Goofy bombarded him with attacks from their respective weapons. Quickly recovering, Sora turned and attacked Hook with a combo attack from his Keyblade. Vanitas smacked the pirate with the long end of his spear, even though Peter had assured them that the pirate could handle otherwise lethal stabs or slashes. Which he then proved by repeatedly stabbing Hook with his dagger.

_If that kid ever grows up,_ Vanitas thought as he landed on his feet, having been pushed back by Hook. _He's probably gonna end up a serial killer._

The group continued to force back Hook just as another pirate ship heartless appeared. It shot out various missiles and forms of cannon fire, to the point where it helped Hook knock out Donald.

"I'm on it!" Vanitas announced, flying after the ship as it flew away.

Vanitas pulled out his newly reloaded revolver to help out as the heartless shot out the missiles. A few well aimed bullets blew them up before they could hit him, and managed to take out the mast of its ship. Unfortunately, the ship charged him, causing him to drop his revolver onto the ship.

"Hey!" Vanitas yelled at the heartless steering the thing. "Just 'cause it doesn't have a lot of ammo doesn't mean it's worthless!"

The ship charged at Vanitas, and he held out his hand, honestly not sure why his gut told him to do so. The ship continued to charge at Vanitas, but it suddenly stopped in the air. Amazed and confused, Vanitas quickly deduced that this was another of his hidden powers. With the heartless held in place, Vanitas looked back at his allies that were fighting Hook.

They were doing... okay.

Donald and Goofy were knocked out, but Sora and Peter were holding back the pirate captain pretty well. Sora then used Cura to heal Donald, who used a Hi-Potion to wake up Goofy.

Looking from his struggling fr... companions, Vanitas got an idea.

"Hey, guys!" he called out, garnering the attention of both his allies and Hook.

They were all surprised at the sight of Vanitas holding his hand in front of a floating heartless ship.

"Out of the way!" Vanitas called out.

His companions got the message. They moved out of the way just as Vanitas forcefully waved his arm from the heartless ship to Hook. The ship flew through the air and towards the pirate captain with the speed of a bullet. But, Hook managed to jump out of the way before it could make him into a pirate pancake. Unfortunately, he leaped off of the edge of the ship, while the heartless was destroyed from the impact of hitting the ship.

Vanitas joined his companions on the stern of the ship as they watched Hook land in the water right next to the crocodile. The pirate floated up so he was next to the crocodile, and jumped as it lunged at him. The pirate ran from the crocodile on the water, far away from the ship.

"Again," Vanitas asked, gesturing with his arm to what just happened. "How often does that happen to _this_ guy?"

Sora just sighed out as energy flowed through him as he picked up a piece of paper. He now knew the ability Ars Arcanum, and they had another page of Ansem's Report.

The others just turned their gazes to Vanitas.

"How the heck did you do _that_?" Donald asked, emphasizing the last word.

"I guess it's another hidden trick," Vanitas shrugged his shoulders, as confused as them. "Like I said, they come in random bursts from time to time."

"Can you still do it?" Goofy asked, eager to see more.

Vanitas turned towards his fallen revolver, and held out his hand towards it. Nothing happened.

"Nope," Vanitas said, walking over to the gun and manually picking it up.

The group recuperated in front of the door to Hook's quarters. Sora stood with his hands on the railing, and the others stood a few feet behind him.

"Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up," Goofy said to Donald and Vanitas, finally addressing the unspoken word from earlier. "So maybe she's really lost her..."

"Shh!" Donald told him.

"He's been through enough today," Vanitas told Goofy with his arms crossed. "Let's not add on the salt to the would he probably already has."

They looked at Sora, who was still processing something else.

"Sora," Peter called out to him.

"I still can't believe it," Sora said in awe. He then looked up. "I really flew. Wait 'till I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me." His tone turned more realistic. "Probably not."

"You can bring her to Neverland sometime," Peter suggested, garnering the younger boy's attention. "Then she can try it for herself."

"If you believe," Sora said. "You can do anything, right?"

"Exactly," Vanitas said, thinking about his own problems with his missing friends and life force.

The longer Vanitas spent with these guys, the longer Vanitas began to question, were they really just his allies, acquaintances, or whatever other words he used to describe them? Like Stark and Banner had said, being on his rampage could turn him into someone he didn't want to be, but these guys managed to calm him down enough that murder wasn't his first option for everything anymore. Plus, they joked around enough with each other while still determined to have each others' backs. Did his "acquaintances" somehow become his friends?

"I'll find Kairi," Sora said with determination, breaking Vanitas out of his stupor. "I know I will. There's so much I want to tell her: about flying, the pirates, and everything else that's happened."

"Why am I starting to think he wants to find her in a way that's stronger than friendship?" Vanitas whispered to Donald, which garnered a laugh from the duck. 

Tinker Bell suddenly flew into view and towards Peter.

"What's that, Tink?" Peter asked her as she spoke to him in her ringing bell language. "What about the clock tower? You say there's something there?"

* * *

The group flew over the city of London, taking in the sights of the city below them as they got closer and closer to the giant tower of Big Ben, with the clock face on all four sides of the building. As they got closer to the tower, a heartless that looked like a living cloak appeared next to them and flew in front of them. The Phantom stopped right in front of the clock tower, separating the group from it.

"I don't think he's gonna let us through peacefully," Vanitas said, surprisingly nonchalantly as he pulled out his spear again.

The Phantom waved its hands, and magic appeared on the clock, and around Peter. A 12 appeared over his head, and the clock had it's number reach 12.

The group quickly figured out what was going on. Sora got close to the hands and used Stop magic, stopping the timer from counting down.

"That won't hold for long," Vanitas pointed out.

"We'll just have to do it again once it wears off," Donald said.

"If we're alive by then," Goofy said, worriedly as he faced the Phantom.

He had good reason to be worried as the Phantom flew towards them and slashed at them with its claws. There was a heart on the bottom of the cloak that was surrounded in white energy. Sora attacked it with his combo attack, Donald attacked it with his staff, Vanitas jabbed it with his spear, and Peter repeatedly stabbed it with his dagger. After a few attacks, the heart disappeared, and the Phantom flew around a little bit.

After dodging a few slashes from the Phantom, the cloak like heartless then twirled around, revealing the heart surrounded by white energy again. Once the group attacked it, this time including Goofy with his shield, the heart disappeared once again.

"I think I get it!" Sora announced.

And get it he did.

The group kept up the attack, attacking the heart when it showed up and blocking the Phantom's attacks when it attacked, all the while occasionally using Stop magic to keep the clock from counting down to end Peter's life. They quickly figured out the pattern. When the heart flared red, they attacked it with fire magic. When the heart flared blue, they attacked it with ice magic. When the heart flared yellow, they attacked it with Thunder magic. And when the heart flared white, they just did melee attacks.

The group kept up this pattern for a good long while, with Donald, Goofy and Peter only occasionally getting knocked out by the Phantom. But after a while of fighting, and using a lot of their magic expenses, the group managed to finish off the Phantom.

The Phantom floated in front of the clock tower, clutching its chest(?). It dispelled a crystal looking heart from the bottom of the cloak in a flash of light, and Vanitas couldn't help but laugh at the thought of the heartless being so scared it peed out its heart. The Phantom disappeared unceremoniously.

The group flew up to one of the parts to find Wendy, who had been hiding the whole time, but was now watching them fly towards her with her legs dangling over the ledge she was sitting on. They landed on the part of the clock she was in, and told her what happened to Hook and the pirates.'

"You'll find her, Sora," Wendy reassured Sora. "Just don't give up."

Sora and company then flew around the clock, immediately taking notice of the fact that while three of the faces read 12:00, one read 11:45.

"That's gotta mean something, right?" Goofy asked.

"It just might," Vanitas agreed. "Now we just gotta..."

Sora cut him off by attacking the minute hand until it was moving in place to reach the 12 key.

"Not how I would have done it," Vanitas commented. "But you do you."

The group watched the tower as it emitted a bright light. Once the light faded, a new light flared the Keyhole in between the parts reading 2 and 3. Sora, who had more than gotten used to this by now, pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole. Stars gathered around the Keyblade and flew into the tip. A beam shot out into the Keyhole, as per usual. The Keyhole then disappeared with the sound of a lock clicking.

Once the lights had faded, the gang regrouped and watched as Peter and Wendy said goodbye to each other. The two held hands together, which Vanitas and Donald could tell Tinker Bell did not like, due to how she faced away from the sight with her arms crossed. Donald laughed at the pixie's expanse while Sora rested his hands behind his head and smiled for Peter and Wendy. When she turned towards the group, Sora stopped smiling and looked at her while Donald did the smart thing and held his beak shut with his lips.

"Smart move," Vanitas whispered to the duck as they watched the pixie fly around Peter, then fly around Sora.

"Oh, boy," Peter said with a smile on his face while Sora helplessly tried to track Tinker Bell's movements around him. "She's gettin' steamed again. Do me a favor. Look after her for me, will ya?"

Vanitas and Donald's eyes widened as Tinker Bell flew in front of Sora's face.

"What?" he asked, looking at Peter, confused.

"You can't be serious," Vanitas commented.

They made it so that Tinker Bell was a new Summon spell, and made for the ship, ready for whatever came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like Everglow said, it makes sense to include the Phantom here because, how else are they gonna take that thing out canonically?


	24. Strength of Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the way back to Traverse Town, the gang decides to make a quick stop at the Coliseum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word Shuriken is actually spelled wrong on this site, even if you're spelling it the right way. And I looked it up, I am

"Well," Donald started once they were back on the ship. "We found the Navi-gummi piece." He held up the piece that had fallen out of the Neverland Keyhole. "Let's go back to town."

"Cid'll install it on the ship once we bring it to him," Sora agreed.

"That's why he's such a good mechanic," Vanitas praised their friend.

All of a sudden, they got a new message from Chip and Dale, who they hadn't heard from since they left Earth 616.

"There's a tournament being held at the Coliseum," Chip told them.

"I hear there's a great reward for the winner," Dale elaborated.

The four looked at each other in thought.

"It _is _on the way," Goofy rationalized.

"It'd be nice to shove that 'Junior Heroes' title down Phil's throat," Donald agreed in thought.

"We can show him and Hercules how good we are at fighting," Sora pointed out.

"At this point," Vanitas pointed out. "We're all just trying to delude ourselves on why we should go."

Everyone was silent at that.

"I say, fuck it," Vanitas told his allies enthusiastically. "Let's just go!"

"Yup!" Donald agreed, happily as he set up the warp drive.

The others cheered as they began the trek to the Coliseum.

* * *

The gang arrived to the Coliseum quickly. They ran into the actual building after saying a quick "Hi" to Hercules and ran to Phil. They quickly explained to him why they were there, and he helped them get set up for the games.

From there, the four fought through all kinds of enemies together as they fought in the games. The first one, they fought through wave after wave of miniature heartless before taking out pieces similar to the Guard Armor's living limbs. With how strong they had grown throughout their journey, they managed to take out the heartless in the dubbed "Phil Cup" more easily than they did in the preliminary games. Once they were done, they accepted the award for winning the Phil Cup, which included upgrading Gravity to Gravira.

"I never thought you'd do it," Phil told them in the lobby with his arms crossed. "Not bad."

"Phil," Hercules said with his arms crossed. "You're just as stubborn as ever. Don't pretend you're not happy for them!"

"Ahem!" Phil told Hercules before turning back towards the group of four. "Now, kid, you've still got a long way to go. While you were gone, we actually managed to get enough to set up for a bunch of different games. The next round's startin' soon. And next time it'll be the real thing."

After Phil went back to his position next to the entrance of the Coliseum, the group talked with each other on if they should stay or not.

"Let's do it!" Donald said cheerfully, after literally two seconds of everyone agreeing with each other. "Like Vanitas said..."

He gestured to the ravenette.

"Fuck it, let's go!" Vanitas announced, happily.

They fought through the Pegasus Cup, taking out even more heartless, and eventually coming across Leon and Yuffie. While they were curious at what the two were doing there, they just shrugged it off and fought the two in battle. It was touch and go for a while, what with Yuffie healing herself and Leon putting his gunblade in what they assumed was Ultimate mode.

"Sorry," Vanitas said, actually sounding it as he punched Leon in the face.

While the other three held off Leon, Vanitas took on Yuffie with the ninja training that they both had.

"This is _so_ not what I meant when I said I wanted us to get closer!" Vanitas exclaimed as he held out her hand that had a shuriken with his own hand, which forced their bodies to get close to each other.

"You probably should have been more specific with your wording," Yuffie joked before she yanked her hand free and hit Vanitas in the face with her shuriken.

She then tried getting him with a roundhouse kick, but he got down on the floor and spun his leg around, knocking her off her feet.

"Sorry," Vanitas said, actually sounding it. "But if it makes you feel any better, I'd do this if you were a guy."

"You know," Yuffie laughed. "It kind of does."

Vanitas laughed, then punched her in the face, knocking her down.

While he was doing that, the others had finished off Leon, who begrudgingly admitted defeat, and congratulated them on their win. They accepted the award for their win, which included Sora learning Strike Raid.

"That was great!" Hercules praised them back in the lobby. "Looks like Phil's trained another great hero!"

"Is strength the most important part of a hero?" Sora asked, genuinely curious.

"Well," Phil said. "What you really need is a strong heart. What makes a strong heart?" He paused. "If you have to ask, you're not a hero yet!"

"Stop talking in riddles!" Sora exclaimed, angrily.

Vanitas grabbed Sora by the shoulder, and the brunette looked over his shoulder at his lookalike.

"It's not a riddle," Vanitas told him in a calming voice. "A true hero is told by the strength of their heart. How much they value and help others. You haven't exactly reached the right level yet, but you'll get there."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy just stared in shock at Vanitas.

"Who are you?" Donald asked, with his arms crossed. "This wiseful, peaceful, sage of wisdom, and what have you done with the homicidal rage machine we know and love?"

"Fuck off," Vanitas told Donald, more in a joking manner than any other way he said it before.

The next time they were in the arena, Sora and Vanitas were alone, looking around at the darkened state of this specific one.

"I didn't even know it could get this dark in here," Sora said.

"Neither did I," Vanitas said, pulling as much as he could from what little memories he had.

After a few seconds, the ground started shaking and the two turned around suddenly. Two white clawed hands appeared on the top, and pulled up a giant frame with spikes coming out of its body. The Ice Titan climbed in and faced the two.

"Oh, you should be so happy I'm here," Vanitas told Sora.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and stood in his battle stance, while Vanitas just held up his fists in a fighting stance, as they were covered in fire.

The Titan waved its hand and ice shards appeared out of nowhere and flew at Sora. Sora blocked the shards, which sent them right up into the Titan's head, which appeared to be its weak spot. The Titan then rammed it's hand into the ground, causing icicles to come up in various locations. Sora dodged them by running around them.

Vanitas took advantage of the Titan kneeling on the ground, and lunged at its head. Vanitas latched on just as it stood up and tried shaking him off. Vanitas just held on and punched it repeatedly in the eye with his fiery fist. After a good deal of punched, the Titan managed to snatch up Vanitas and throw him into the empty stands, where he landed, not pleasantly.

While he was worried for his friend, Sora was forced to continue blocking the Titan's attacks, which consisted mostly of him launching ice shards and causing icicles to come up in an attack. After blocking enough shards, consequently sending them back at the Titan's head, Sora managed to stun the Titan, which made it fall on its knee.

Happy he did something right, Sora used Cura on Vanitas, helping up the pyrotechnic. Which he needed, as his legs didn't exactly look pretty after hitting the ground.

Vanitas pulled himself to his feet and lobed fireball after fireball at the Ice Titan's head, careful not to hit Sora, who was doing combo attacks now that he could actually reach the Titan's head. Unfortunately, the Titan didn't stay stunned for long, and was on its feet again momentarily, sending out multiple ice shards in retaliation.

The two managed to keep up a system. They would dodge the attacks consisting of icicles coming out of the ground, freeze breath, and random clunks of ice appearing over their heads. All the while, Sora blocked the ice shards, sending them back towards the Titan's head, while Vanitas also threw fireballs to help drain its health. Shards might have hit them every once in a while, but it was nothing that Cura couldn't fix. After a while, they managed to get the Titan weak enough for Sora to finish it off with Ars Arcanum, which included a finishing move called Ragnarok.

They watched as the defeated Titan grabbed its head as magic surged around it. The Titan slowly started to shrink, which it didn't notice because it was still holding its head. It eventually raised its foot and stomped the ground. Its foot broke, and the Titan raised its leg... to find out that it was now so small it could barely reach Sora's knees. It looked up in fear as Sora raised his foot. The "Titan" leaped out of the way just as Sora stomped where it was originally standing. It then ran as fast as it's little legs could carry it as it ran across the arena and through the combatants' entrance.

"That was fun," Vanitas said as he and Sora high-fived.

"It really was," Sora agreed. "A bit easier than what we're used to."

"That's what made it fun," Vanitas elaborated, spreading his arms.

They eventually did the Hades Cup, and after fighting through wave after wave of enemies, consisting of hundreds of minion heartless, Yuffie (they didn't ask), Cerberus, Leon and Cloud (once again, they didn't ask), and many giant heartless similar to ones they had fought before, they came across the penultimate Seed: the Rock Titan.

Like the Ice Titan, this guy towered over the entire arena walls, making him clearly a tough opponent. The group consisting of Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy started by attacking his feet, figuring a guy this big couldn't be too light on his feet. And they were right. After dodging the shockwaves made by his stomps, they managed to damage the Titan's feet enough to make him fall back on his rocky posterior.

This gave the group the chance to climb up his massive body and start attacking his two heads. The fight was a relatively simple one compared to the Ice Titan. Since they were so strong, all they had to do was whale on the heads for about twenty seconds (Vanitas actually used a stopwatch he had). Though the heads tried smacking into the group in defense, they got the job done and finished it off quickly.

The four of them got off the Titan and watched as smoke gathered around it. The smoke eventually covered the entire arena, and the four had to cover their eyes to protect them. Once the smoke and dust had cleared, all that was left of the Rock Titan was just a giant pile of rocks.

"I... I don't get it," Vanitas said, confused. "Did we kill him, or is that just his form when he's taking a nap?"

The others shared his confusion, but didn't have an answer.

Things quickly got up for the final round of the Hades Cup, and the four of them eagerly prepared for it. They got into their battle stances and faced their opponent. The same man who had given them the entry pass in the first place and tried to exploit Cloud's darkness.

"Yo, hey, how're you doin', everybody, yeah," Hades laughed. He raised his hand to his chest in an introductory manner, like they didn't already know who he was. "Got a minute? Hades, Lord of the Dead. Nice to see you."

"Hey, guess what?" Hades asked. As he continued talking, his voice got more forceful, and he waved his arms through the air. "I got a place for you down under!"

Donald decided to be mean and start the battle by launching out Blizzara. Hades quickly recovered and launched fire out of his hands. Vanitas stood in front of his friends and absorbed it with his hand before hitting Hades in the head with his baseball bat. Although, him being a god made him a bit more durable than the average Heartless.

Once the coast was clear, Goofy smacked Hades with his shield while Sora used a combo attack. But the god shrugged off their attacks and moved to the center of the arena, his hair, skin, and cloak turning red. Vanitas and Sora were smart to start running as Hades made two very long side pillars of fire originate from his hands. He spun in a circle, and the two occasionally rolled on the ground to ignore the fire, even though it didn't hurt Vanitas. Donald and Goofy weren't as lucky. They got hit a few times, but nothing a Mega-Potion couldn't fix.

Once that part ended, Goofy charged Hades, hitting the god a bunch of times with his shield, while Donald blasted him with Blizzara again. Wanting to join in the fun, Sora and Vanitas charged Hades. Sora used combo attacks, while Vanitas swung his baseball bat at the god. Hades might have tried slashing fire at them, and even launching fireballs, but they managed to block and even deflect them.

Sora then did a few more combo attacks while Goofy continued charging Hades to hit him with his shield. Vanitas then hit Hades in the stomach with his bat, hit him in the chin, then hit him right in the side of his face. Hades tried spinning around with fire pillars coming out of his hands again, but that was about as successful as it was the first time.

Once the attack was over, Goofy did his own spin attack, replenishing lots of Hades' health. Donald launched out Blizzara again, and Vanitas kicked Hades right in the groin.

"Oh, _that's _how I remember you,!" Vanitas suddenly exclaimed happily. "I kicked you in the nuts once! Man, that was gonna drive me crazy."

Hades, not happy at being reminded about that, tried slashing fire at Vanitas, only for Sora to cut him off with a combo. Sora did get hit right in the face with a fireball, but with how much his defense had grown, it didn't do much. Within seconds, the group had finished off Hades, who very angrily exclaimed "This. Isn't. Happening!"

They all did a finishing attack on Hades, who flew back into the combatants' entrance of the arena, screaming. From the sounds of it, whatever was in there with him wasn't too happy to see him, but they shrugged it off by closing the gate.

After assuring Phil that they would take the remaining spoils after they finished the final game, started fighting through the Hercules Cup. Even though Phil was convinced they wouldn't win that one.

And for good reason. The last opponent of the Hercules Cup was... well, Hercules.

"Show me what you've got!" Hercules exclaimed, ready for a fight.

"Hercules, wait," Sora suddenly said. "Let's go one on one!"

"Oh, brother," Donald said, annoyed. "What a show off."

"What're we gonna do?" Goofy asked Donald.

"Let him go alone, I guess," Donald said.

"Good luck, Sora!" Goofy called out before he, Donald, and Vanitas stood outside the part of the arena the fight was gonna take place.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you!" Hercules was boasting.

"He's toast," Donald said, with his arms crossed.

"Don't knock down Sora, guys," Vanitas said with his arms crossed, but with a smile on his face. "Like Banner said back on Earth, he just might surprise us all."

Donald and Goofy looked at him, confused.

"Oh, right," Vanitas realized. "You two were unconscious for that part."

They turned back towards the fight to see that Sora had found a good system. Whenever Hercules was covered in glowing light that made him untouchable, Sora would just throw a barrel at him. And even after the light faded, he could use the barrel to make the warrior dizzy.

Whenever Hercules wasn't attacking or was knocked dizzy, Sora would rush in and attack with either magic or combo attacks. He would even use Sonic Blade, or Strike Raid here and there. He might have gotten punched in the face every now and then, but Cura was a simple fix for that.

After a few minutes of dodging, barrel throwing, and attacking with combos, Sora finished the fight by using Strike Raid to throw his Keyblade into Hercules, knocking the warrior back and finishing him off.

The crowd went nuts in cheering, because they were not used to seeing Hercules lose.

"Whoo!" Vanitas yelled out with Donald and Goofy. He pointed at Sora proudly. "That's our boy!"

The group stood at the top of the bleachers as they got their reward of the Hercules Cup trophy. Phil was jumping up and down proud, near the front of the entrance. As the confetti fell down around them, Sora regarded his three friends with smiles, as they smiled back at him.

"Wow!" Hercules exclaimed once they were back in the lobby. "And I didn't even hold back!"

"Now I finally know what you mean about strength of heart," Sora told Phil. "Mine comes from Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas."

"Come again?" Phil asked, genuinely confused.

"If we stick together," Sora explained, gesturing to his friends with his hands. "We're unbeatable. Not even Hercules stands a chance. With these guys beside me, I'm ready for anything!"

"Exactly," Vanitas said, a smile on his face. "Where would you be without us, you little knucklehead?"

Vanitas put Sora in a headlock with his right arm and gave him a noogie with his left hand, all while the two of them, Donald, and Goofy laughed. Sora fought out as they continued laughing.

"But," Phil tried breaking through. "That's not exactly what I..."

"Of course," Hercules interrupted Phil as he picked up the little satyr. "Your friends give you strength. Isn't that right, Phil?"

He looked the satyr in his hands in the face, then looked back towards the group.

"The four of you together make great heroes," Hercules continued. He put Phil down. "And as a team, I'm sure you can overcome..."

"Anything," he finished as he and Sora shook hands, making Vanitas' head hurt.

He had a vison to a blonde haired boy with spikey hair and himself shaking hands with Hercules.

Vanitas had been having these flashbacks for a while now. The latest few times was her and on Neverland. When Tinker Bell was spraying pixie dust on them, he saw her doing the same thing with himself and that blonde haired boy. When they had met Hook, he saw a brown haired man that looked familiar meeting the pirate. When they had encountered the shadow Sora, a woman with blue hair holding a Keyblade was facing a copy of her that was walking towards her. Just earlier, when they were fighting Hades, that blue haired woman was dodging a similar attack from Hades in a fight, with that Ice Titan in the background. Were these his friends? Was this the past? And more importantly, what did it all mean?

"Hey, guys," Sora announced, garnering back his attention. "What do you say we try moving that pedestal. Together this time?"

"You just can't let that go?" Vanitas teased, good naturedly.

But they agreed to it and pushed the very heavy pedestal to the side. What they weren't expecting was for a familiar bright light to originate where the pedestal was. Once the light faded, the Keyhole was revealed to them.

"What do you know?" Vanitas asked. "I guess we made the right decision when we convinced ourselves to come back here."

The others agreed as Sora summoned his Keyblade and held it in the air. Light appeared at the tip, and then light appeared around the Keyhole. Stars flew into the tip, but instead of a beam, the Keyblade flashed a light, and green light appeared over the Keyhole. The Keyhole flared a bright light, made the familiar sound of a lock clicking, and once the light faded, it was gone.

Now that that was over, they had to leave.

"Say Hi to Arnold Schwarzenegger for me," Vanitas called out as he waved bye. "And tell him I laughed my ass off at your guys' work in Twins!"

"Do you know what he's talking about?" Phil asked Hercules, confused.

"No idea," Hercules admitted as he watched the quartet leave the Coliseum, ready for the next part of their adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The extra chapters have been to make up for the inactivity over the last couple of weeks. Plus, there isn't really that much to this part besides a lot of fighting, so in the words of Vanitas, i figured "Fuck it, let's go"


	25. The Mysterious Book

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang cleans up a few loose ends in Traverse Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, can't knock the world of the book. It can be pretty fun. It works great for a respite world for right before the end, like Vanitas and Aqua tried doing with Destiny Islands back in BBS

Once the four of them got to Traverse Town, they realized that the pages they had found belonged to the book that belonged to Merlin, so they decided it was time to return them.

After entering the First District, they went through the shortcut of the Third District to get to the doorway to Merlin's house. They made it across the moving rocks and entered through the giant hole.

"Hey, Merlin!" Vanitas waved at the old wizard happily as they entered his house.

"Hello, my friends," Merlin waved his wand at the four of them. "What brings you by today?"

"We found the pages to the book," Sora said, holding up the torn pages they had found.

"Splendid," Merlin said as he watched them walk over to the book.

"What makes the book so special, anyway?" Donald asked.

"It is the kind that you can travel inside," Merlin told them. "There is a world inside with people you can interact with. Each page added includes a new story."

They looked from Merlin to the book on the table, surprised that that one book was capable of so much.

"Is it safe?" Goofy asked.

"I'll go check it out," Sora offered.

"I'll go with him," Vanitas added. "Just in case."

Donald and Goofy nodded their agreement.

"Here," Vanitas said, offering the two small ear pieces. "They're communicators from SHIELD."

"You kept that thing?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Vanitas said, looking at Sora. "And I stole yours and two others."

He looked back towards the other two.

"You put it in your ear and you can hear us, and talk to us," Vanitas explained to Donald and Goofy as they put in the ear pieces, and took the Torn Pages from Sora. "You press a button and can talk to us. When we're in there, we can tell you what's going on and when to add an extra page to the book or not. Got it?"

They nodded their heads and pressed the buttons on their ear pieces.

"Testing?" Donald asked, which Vanitas heard.

"Two, three, four!" Goofy yelled, which made Vanitas grab at his ear.

"Your good," Vanitas gave them a thumbs-up. "Once again, I'm really glad I don't feel pain."

He turned towards Sora.

"You ready, Sky?" Vanitas asked.

"Ready," Sora confirmed as he put the ear piece in, registering the familiar feeling of the small device in his ear.

Sora opened the door, and they both leaned in to see that a light originated from the pages. The light flashed brightly, and Sora and Vanitas were gone.

* * *

Sora and Vanitas slowly lowered to the floor, consisting of the pages of the book that were now supersized. They looked around to see that on the pages of the book were about half a dozen blank spots on the two pages they were standing on.

"We're in," Vanitas said into the ear piece.

"It's kind of blank," Sora commented into the earpiece.

They went through one of the few parts that was there to find themselves in an empty circular field. Not too far was a log on the ground, with a small yellow bear in a red shirt sitting on it, deep in thought. Figuring that he wasn't dangerous, the two walked towards the bear.

"Think, think, think, think," he muttered to himself.

"Hi, there," Sora announced as they approached the small bear. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the bear said. "Just thinking."

"Doesn't look like nothing," Vanitas commented.

"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh," the bear told them.

"Pooh?" Sora asked as Vanitas asked "Who?" at the same time.

"Yes?" Pooh asked.

"Wait a second," Sora said as he and Vanitas sat on the log. "You're Pooh?"

"Yes," Pooh answered, gesturing with his arm. "I'm Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short. Who are you two?"

"I'm Sora," Sora answered.

"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas added. "And I'm wondering why we're rhyming all the time."

"Oh. Hello, Sora and Vanitas," Pooh said. "Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow at the small bear.

"Well, no," Sora said, shaking his head in confusion. "Why would I do that? We've only just met."

"Kinda doesn't make a lot of sense," Vanitas agreed.

"Because everyone's gone away," Pooh answered Sora.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"Well," Pooh explained. "We all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh sticks..."

Vanitas raised his eyebrow again, confused at what that game could be.

"And every day, I'd eat some hunny," Pooh finished. "Just one smackeral would taste very good right now." He rubbed his belly as he said that.

"But now, everyone's gone," he announced, sadly. "All my friends, and my favorite Hunny Tree, too. Everyone must have gone away while I was napping, I think..."

Vanitas and Sora looked at each other, and the same thought rushed through their heads, _The torn pages..._

"So, who knows?" Pooh asked as he climbed off the log. "Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well. But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself?"

He put his hands to his head, muttering "Think, think, think."

The two lookalikes looked at the bear, sad for him.

"Oh, Pooh exclaimed softly. "My tummy is getting rather rumbly."

He slowly waddled out of the clearing.

"So that's what the pages were for," Vanitas observed.

"His friends must have been in the pages when they were ripped from the book," Sora agreed.

"Luckily," Vanitas said as he looked at his friend. "We've got eyes and ears on the outside."

Sora looked at Vanitas with a determined smile on his face.

"Yeah!" he agreed, nodding his head.

"Donnie?" Vanitas said into the ear piece. "Goof?"

"We're gonna need some assistance from up top," Sora added on.

They explained the situation to the two as quickly as they could, and they got to work.

First, they met up with Pooh at his house and were told by an owl named... Owl, that they needed to find the missing pages to return more of the Hundred Acre Wood. Luckily they already found them.

Then, Donald and Goofy put in the missing page, which brought Pooh's Hunny Tree. With the help of Pooh's found friend, Piglet, they were able to help Pooh infiltrate the bee's stash of Honey, and get him a snack.

Next, Donald and Goofy put in another page, putting in Pooh's friend, Rabbit's house and farm. Pooh ate too much Honey and got stuck in Rabbit's hole, so they had to make carrot top juice to get him out. _After _they dealt with a bouncing tiger named Tigger that introduced himself to Sora and Vanitas by tackling them to the ground.

After that, Donald and Goofy put in another page, putting in a tree on a hill with a swing along with a small bridge over a creek. With this, they found a gloomy donkey named Eeyore who needed help finding his tail. After following Owl's advice, they swung Pooh on the swing which launched him in the air, right onto Eeyore's house. It might have been crushed, but they at least managed to get him his tail.

Then, Donald and Goofy put in another page, which brought back Tigger's bouncing spot. The two of them jumped around the area with Tigger and their little kangaroo friend named Roo, during which Sora destroyed a giant pot. Which led to the obvious "You really don't like pot" joke from Vanitas.

After that, Donald and Goofy put in the last page, which brought a large, unusual area that looked like it'd be good to play hide and seek in. Which, Vanitas swore Pooh and the other were doing and Pooh was it. Pooh didn't understand what Vanitas' words meant, but admitted he was looking for the others. So, they helped the honey bear go around the area and find his friends.

Once that was over, it was nighttime so everyone gathered at the tree on the hill and sat, gazing at the stars.

"I'm so glad we're all together again," Piglet announced. "I didn't know what to do when I was all alone."

"So your solution was to run," Vanitas nodded his head. "I get that. Small guy like you, scared of a lot of stuff."

"Yeah," Piglet agreed, nodding at Vanitas.

"Aw, Piglet," Tigger piped in. "You gotta be brave."

"You weren't lonely at all?" Piglet asked.

"Lonely?" Tigger asked, jumping. "Are you kiddin'? I'm a Tigger! The most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one."

"Sounds like a lonely existence," Vanitas commented, remembering his own determination to stay alone throughout the last decade.

Sora nodded his head in agreement.

"But I do admit," Tigger lamented. "Friends are awfully fun, too!" He laughed as he looked at the stars again.

Sora looked at Tigger for a second, before Pooh's words drew his attention.

"Think, think, think," the honey bear muttered, tapping his head.

"Hey, Pooh," Sora said. "What are you thinking about now?"

"Oh," he said. "Well, I'm just thinking about what to think about."

"Of course you are," Vanitas said as he and Sora chuckled.

"Well, we're off," Sora said as he and Vanitas looked forwards.

"It's been fun, guys," Vanitas told the anthropomorphic animals.

"Sora, Vanitas," Piglet said as the two boys stood up. "Where are you going?"

The two boys walked towards the edge of the small cliff before they answered.

"We're going to look for our friends," Sora told them.

"They're waiting for us," Vanitas finished.

They looked over their shoulders at the friends they had made.

"Bounce on back again!" Tigger called out happily before he laughed.

"I hope you find your friends!" Piglet told them.

The two jumped off the edge and landed the twelve feet down on the ground. They walked to the bridge and, knowing that the others had walked to the edge to watch them leave, pumped their fists in the air as a sign of goodbye. They looked up at the cliff edge to see their friends waving goodbye.

"I'm gonna miss them," Vanitas told Sora.

"Me, too," Sora agreed.

As they walked through the gateway taking them back to the real world, the two heard Pooh calling to them.

"Sora, Vanitas, don't forget... We shall always be here. If you'd like to visit again, that is."

As they left the book, the cover changed. It now read "Winnie the Pooh," and held a picture of Sora holding Pooh's hand, and Pooh holding Piglet's hand, and Vanitas with his arm around Tigger's shoulders, as the five of them walked next to some bushes.

* * *

"And then once we finished bouncing," Sora explained to Donald and Goofy as they walked through the First District. "We got to knocking rocks into a giant pot."

"After they hit it a good amount of times with the rocks," Vanitas continued as they walked up the stairs, almost reaching the shop where Cid worked. "It ended up shattering, spewing out Tigger. Man, he really doesn't like pot."

"What does that mean?" Sora asked, while Vanitas laughed at his own joke once again.

"Hey, guys?" Donald asked, garnering their attention. He looked up to his taller allies. "Was that there before?"

He gestured to the house that was now where the empty alleyway that housed crates was.

"I lived in this town ten years," Vanitas pointed out, also curious. "This is definitely new."

"Look!" Goofy said excitedly as he pointed to the top of the house.

They followed his pointed finger to see a large stone banner on the top of the house. They smiled as they recognized the name "Geppetto."

"They made it out!" Sora said excited.

He ran forwards and opened the door, somehow not garnering the attention of the puppet boy and old man inside.

"Huh, breaking and entering," Vanitas laughed as they walked into the house. "Well, I guess we can add those charges to the four murders."

"Pinocchio?" Sora asked, once they were all inside.

"Hey," Pinocchio said, excited. "It's Sora!"

"Well, hello, Sora!" Geppetto said, turning towards the four of them.

"We're here, too," Vanitas said, raising his hand. "Just... in case you didn't see us."

"And of course, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy," Geppetto laughed, at which Vanitas laughed, too.

"How did you get here?" Sora asked the old man and the wooden boy.

"A man named Leon helped us," Geppetto told them. "He even got us this house to live in."

"Of course he did," Vanitas muttered, crossing his arms and smiling.

"I don't know how I'll ever repay his kindness," Geppetto added. "Say, I hear you three are fighting the heartless. I thought I might be able to help you, so I made this."

He gave Vanitas a large, rolled up piece of paper. Vanitas opened it, and showed his allies a blueprint for a gummi ship.

"We have been finding a lot of these lately," Vanitas told Donald. "You gotta admit, an extra gummi ship or two would come in handy."

"For us?" Sora asked Geppetto.

"But of course!" Geppetto exclaimed, happily. "Pinocchio and I can't thank you enough! We'll do anything we can to help you."

"Not bad for a clockmaker," Vanitas muttered, impressed, as he read over the blueprints.

After chatting with the two for a minute, the group eventually had to leave and finally went to give Cid the navigation piece.

"Hey," Cid greeted them. "Got another navigation gummi there, eh? I'll bet you want it installed."

"Yes, please," Vanitas said as the other three nodded their heads.

"Okay, wait here," Cid told them. "I'll get it installed right now."

He then walked away, going towards the exit of the First District, where he knew they parked the ship.

After a while of them standing and waiting for Cid, Sora eventually looked down, sad.

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed.

"Now," Goofy butted in. "Just remember what Donald said to ya: no frowning, no sad faces."

"Yeah, man," Vanitas agreed. "Even _I've _stopped being pissed all the time. And I was on a homicidal rampage for ten years."

"How can you be so cheerful?" Sora asked, looking at Donald and Goofy. "There's still no sign of your king."

He then looked at Vanitas.

"And you're no closer to getting back your life force or your friends," Sora continued, now looking at all of them. "Aren't you worried?"

"Aw, phooey," Donald told Sora.

"The king told us to go out and find the key bearer," Goofy said. "And we found you. So as long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay."

"Yeah," Vanitas said. "I knew that finding the key bearer would help me get things back on track. I just didn't know it would work out this way."

They all shared a small chuckle at that, recognizing Vanitas' change throughout the journey.

"Ya just gotta believe in yourself," Goofy continued. "That's all."

"Just believe..." Sora said. He then closed his eyes.

All of a sudden, Vanitas saw the vision Sora was having.

First, Sora was flying through some stars towards a light, then it flashed and he was in the Hollow Bastion library. A younger Kairi ran towards her grandma who was sitting in a chair. And the grandma told Kairi a story.

_Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light. Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts. The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the world disappeared. But small fragments of light survived... in the hearts of children. With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps, deep within the darkness. That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return. So, listen, child. Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you. Your heart will shine with its power and push the darkness away._

Sora was surprised to learn the little redheaded girl was Kairi. He reached out for her before she disappeared, and everything went white.

Vanitas' eyes snapped open as he watched Sora open his.

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking around, confused.

"What's the matter?" Goofy asked.

"Um, nothing," Sora lied.

Vanitas managed to catch it with his good ears when Sora muttered, "Kairi... Did you call me?"

Dozens of questions ran through Vanitas' head. What was going on? How could he see visions of her childhood like that? Why was he convinced he had seen that old lady and head that story before? What did this all mean?

Vanitas thought about these questions right until Cid came back.

"I installed that navigation gummi," Cid told them. "But, you know? Hollow Bastion, that place is crawling with heartless."

"We know," Vanitas said, remembering everything that happened a decade prior.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya," Cid gave one last warning.

While Sora was curious about that, he shrugged it off as Cid continued.

"Here," he said, offering a new gummi piece. "Take this along."

Vanitas took the piece and gave it to Goofy, who stuffed it in one of his many pockets.

"Let's get going," Sora announced.

"Right on," Vanitas agreed.

They ran towards the exit of the First District, ready for whatever dangers were waiting for them at Hollow Bastion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little excited, because we're right about to get to the big climax at Hollow Bastion, where Vanitas finally admits the truth


	26. My Friends Are My Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets are revealed and friends are made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got home early today and finished an essay pretty quickly

After traversing through the realm between with a bit more difficulty than usual, the group exited the gummi ship and fell to the bottom of a large reverse waterfall. They landed on a platform made out of bricks, regarding where they were.

"Hasn't changed one bit," Vanitas commented, looking at the rising water.

"Gawrsh," Goofy exclaimed, pointing at something in front of them. "Look at that!"

"That, on the other hand," Vanitas said, turning to look towards where Goofy was pointing. "That's changed a bit."

In front of them was floating pieces of land with ice on top that led to a floating platform with a stone arch. Above them, they could see a large, brooding castle in the distance. Clearly, Maleficent had done some redecorating, as evidenced by the large heartless insignia on the side of the castle.

"I know this place..." Sora said.

Vanitas raised an eyebrow at the brunette. He had claimed multiple times before that before this all started, he had never left his island before. This helped add on to a theory that had been growing in Vanitas' mind. One that was supported by what had happened on the island, what with Kairi disappearing before Sora could catch her. And the vision he had of her childhood only added to it.

"Hmm, that's strange," Goofy remarked.

"I wonder why..." Sora said, placing his hand over his heart. "I feel this warmth inside, right here."

Donald walked forwards.

"Aw, you're just hungry," he remarked.

"Hey, I'm serious!" Sora exclaimed, leaning down so he was eye level with Donald.

A loud roar drew all of their attentions.

"It came from up there," Vanitas said, pointing towards the floating arch.

"Let's go!" Sora announced.

They made their way up to the archway to see that Riku was beating down a tall beast with brown hair and a purple cape with his sword. Given Riku's latest associations with darkness, they were able to deduce who was in the wrong here. They managed to reach the platform just as the beast fell to his knees and on his stomach.

"Stop!" Sora exclaimed.

"Stand down!" Vanitas said, pointing his Colt at the silver haired boy.

"So," Riku regarded them. "You finally made it. About time. I've been waiting for you."

"We've always been rivals, haven't we?" he asked Sora.

"Idiot," Vanitas whispered.

"You've always pushed me as I've always pushed you," Riku continued.

"Riku..." Sora tried rationalizing to his friend.

"But it all ends here," Riku continued, gesturing with his arms. "There can't be two Keyblade masters."

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked, gesturing with his own arms.

"Let the Keyblade choose..." Riku started, then held out his hand. "Its true master."

The Keyblade suddenly appeared Sora's hand and started moving towards Riku. Sora exclaimed as he gripped it with both hands, but then the Keyblade disappeared in a flash of light.

"Huh?" Goofy asked as Donald asked "Wha?" Both at the same time, and both were surprised.

Vanitas and Sora both watched in shock as the Keyblade reappeared in Riku's hand in a flash of light. The silver haired boy observed the weapon in his hand.

"Maleficent was right," Riku muttered before he looked at Sora. "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi. It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door..." He held the Keyblade in up. "... and change the world."

"But that's impossible," Sora exclaimed, in disbelief. "How did this happen? _I'm _the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

RIku continued observing the Keyblade as he coldly told his old friend "You were just the delivery boy."

Vanitas winced as he was reminded of the words he thought back in Traverse Town. It was moments like this that made him hate that his suspicions tended to be right most of the time.

"Sorry," Riku told Sora, unsympathetically. "Your part's over now. Here, go play hero with this."

He tossed a wooden sword similar to what they had on the island at Sora's feet. The brunette fell to his hands and knees and looked at the ground. Riku just twirled around and walked away.

Vanitas put away his Colt as Donald and Goofy walked forwards. He was confused as they regarded each other.

"Goofy, let's go," Donald told Goofy. "We have to remember our mission."

"Oh!" Goofy said, putting his hand to his chin, embarrassed. "Well, I know the king told us to follow the key and all... But..."

He looked over his shoulder at the kneeling Sora. The two started walking forwards, and Donald looked back at Sora.

"Sora," he said. "Sorry."

Sora just continued looking down, before he noticed that Vanitas was still standing there.

"Shouldn't you go, too?" he asked Vanitas. "It was your mission from the Order of the Light to follow the Keyblade wielder."

Vanitas sighed out and sat down, resting his back against the arch.

"There is no Order of the Light," he admitted.

Sora looked up suddenly at his ravenette lookalike.

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised you didn't call my bluff before," Vanitas continued.

"You lied about that?" Sora asked, somehow both surprised and not surprised at all.

"I didn't think you guys would let me come along without a good enough bullshit excuse," Vanitas admitted. "The truth is..."

Vanitas sighed out before he continued.

"I was a Keyblade Master," he admitted. "One of the youngest in history, if what memory I have is any truth. Something happened, and my Keyblade was destroyed."

Vanitas gestured to the scar on his face.

"Your life force..." Sora realized.

"It, along with the control over my powers," Vanitas continued. "Were taken from me. The apprentice I mentioned, Xehanort, he was responsible for it. All of that, and me losing my friends. I figured... staying with you long enough would help me eventually find Xehanort. So, I prepared myself for years, remembering how powerful he had to have been. I stayed ready, but it wasn't until I spent time with you guys... and you guys helped remind me who I really am... even if I don't entirely remember it myself. Now I just feel like an asshole."

Sora stayed quiet for a second, before he looked at Vanitas.

"You _are _an asshole," Sora said, before he stood up and offered Vanitas a hand. "But you're still my friend."

Vanitas looked up at his younger lookalike and smiled. He took Sora's offered hand, and stood up. It was then that he realized something.

"You just cussed," Vanitas said, knowingly, as he pointed at Sora.

"That I did," Sora admitted.

"You do realize that now I'm gonna tell everyone, right?" Vanitas asked.

"Yeah," Sora admitted, then his smirk got even wider. "But no one's gonna believe you."

Vanitas thought about that before he smirked again.

"You little shit," Vanitas laughed as he pushed Sora's shoulder.

Sora laughed for a second before he looked down, sadly. Vanitas pushed aside the fun of the last few seconds and regarded what was now happening. Sora didn't have the Keyblade, and their backup just left them. Not a lot of options from here.

All of a sudden, the beast guy started walking forwards, but didn't make it very far before he was on his hands and knees again. Sora and Vanitas rushed forward to help him.

"Hey, don't move," Sora said, placing his hands in front of the Beast in case he tried moving forwards a bit. "You're hurt."

"Pretty badly," Vanitas elaborated.

"Why..." Beast said as he looked towards the two of them. "Why did you... you come here? I came to fight for Belle."

He looked forwards and stood up.

"And though I am on my own," he continued as he slowly walked forwards. "I will fight. I won't leave without her. That's why I'm here."

Sora and Vanitas shared a look of understanding, and nodded their heads in agreement. Vanitas tried offering Sora one of his weapons, but he turned them down, and picked up the wooden sword. At Vanitas' confused glance, Sora mouthed "symbolism" to him. They ran forwards to stand next to Beast.

"Me, too," Sora announced. "I'm not gonna give up now. I came here to find someone very important to me."

"And I'm here to help my friends," Vanitas announced, placing a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Beast," Beast said, placing a hand on his chest to introduce himself.

"Sora," Sora said, raising a hand.

"Vanitas," Vanitas said, following Sora's example and raising his hand.

"Be on guard," Beast warned. "This place is crawling with heartless."

"We're aware," Vanitas said as he pulled out his axe. "When they arrived ten years ago, I was forced to leave."

"But now that I've got backup," he continued, regarding the two. "It shouldn't be too hard to clear them out."

They climbed up the floating iced rock and used the castle mechanisms to reach the railway leading to the castle gates.

"If this place works like I remember it," Vanitas told them. "Then they lock those doors with a mechanism in the basement. I know how to get there."

The made their way into the basement using the mechanisms and water magic, taking out heartless along the way. It might have been mostly Beast and Vanitas taking them out, but Sora held his own.

During this, they came across new heartless, including one with a big shield with a monster's face on it. Vanitas tried shooting his handgun in the mouth, but the bullet just deflected out and hit him in the leg.

"The mouth is... really misleading," Vanitas exclaimed as he shot the Defender in _its _head.

After healing the wound with a Potion, Vanitas continued to lead them through the intricate basement until they found the mechanism. Vanitas hit the button, and the ground shook as the doors released.

Vanitas then stopped and grabbed his head in pain.

"What's wrong with him?" Beast asked Sora.

"He's was a telepath," Sora explained. "So sometimes he can sense things."

"It's worse than that," Vanitas said, in pain. "I could see visions and read minds. But I never did it too much because when I read too powerful of a mind... this happened."

He gripped his head as the pain got worse. He could see Maleficent standing in the center of the room. Around her were the six princesses she needed in glass cases, and Kairi lay in the center in the air, still unconscious. Above her on the higher level, a giant frame designed like the heartless insignia glowed brightly. The Final Keyhole!

"Maleficent's activating the final Keyhole with the princesses of heart," Vanitas told them once the pain stopped. "She's got Jasmine, Alice, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Belle, and Kairi. And something tells me they're not there willingly."

Sora and Beast took in Vanitas' words.

"We gotta hurry," Sora told his friends.

"Let's go," Beast announced.

They ran back the way they came as fast as they could, reaching the castle doors, which opened for them. After going through a long hallway, the three of them walked into a main foyer that was definitely different than how it was before. They stopped in front of the doors they hadn't closed yet.

"Be on your guard," Beast warned them. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them."

"Hell, yeah," Vanitas said as he and Sora walked forwards.

"Belle?" Beast suddenly exclaimed.

Vanitas turned around to see that Beast was facing the open doors now. A brunette woman wearing an elegant yellow dress was standing in the hallway. She suddenly was surrounded in darkness, and in her place was a Shadow. Beast yelled in rage and lunged into the hallway, in which the doors closed behind him. Sora had turned and watched as Vanitas had tried to stop Beast, to no avail.

"Quit while you can," Riku announced, drawing the lookalikes' attention.

He was standing in front of the small fountain thing, with Donald and Goofy standing to the side.

"No," Sora announced. "Not without Kairi."

"The darkness will destroy you," Riku countered, as darkness surrounded him, transforming his clothes into a bodysuit with a white kilt and a heartless like insignia on his chest.

"You're wrong, Riku," Sora told his former friend. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!"

"Hell, yeah," Vanitas remarked, patting his friend on his friends' shoulder.

"Really..." Riku said, his face blank as he pulled back his hand. "Well, we'll just see about that!"

At that, Riku launched a white bit of darkness towards Sora. Sora froze in place while Vanitas rushed in front of his friend. The darkness got closer and closer...

And was extinguished against Goofy's shield.

"Sora and Vanitas ain't gonna go anywhere!" the dog declared.

"You'd betray your king?" Riku asked.

"Not on your life!" Goofy remarked. He looked over his shoulder at Sora and Vanitas. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora and Vanitas, either, 'cause they've become two of my best buddies after all we've been through together!"

He gave a thumbs up to the two, and Vanitas did a small chuckle of relief.

"See you later, Donald," Goofy waved at Donald from across the room. "Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy!" Donald called out. "We'll tell him together."

He ran across the room and faced Sora and Vanitas.

"Well, you know..." Donald said, awkwardly. "All for one and one for all."

"Fuck out," Vanitas said, happily, while Sora looked down.

"I guess you guys are stuck with us," Goofy added.

"By the way, I lied about the Order of Light," Vanitas said quickly.

"We know," Donald and Goofy said at the same time.

"Thanks a lot," Sora said, still looking down. "Donald. Goofy..."

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku asked, at which Sora looked up at him.

"I know now I don't need the Keyblade," Sora announced. "I've got a better weapon. My heart."

"Your heart?" Riku laughed. "What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"You'd be surprised, dumbass," Vanitas remarked.

"Although my heart may be weak," Sora remarked. "It's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made."

He looked at Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas. During Sora's next words, Vanitas had another flashback to the blonde boy.

"I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine," Sora and the blonde boy said at once.

"And if they think of me now and then..." Sora continued. If they don't forget me... then our hearts will be one."

"I don't need a weapon," Sora said, getting in his battle stance with the wooden sword. "My friends are my power!"

"And we're his," Vanitas finished with the blonde boy's words as he pulled out his BO staff.

The Keyblade disappeared from Riku's hand in a flash of light. He exclaimed, confused, as it reappeared in Sora's hands with a flash of light, replacing the wooden sword. Riku just stared at the four with rage in his eyes as his sword reappeared in his hand.

He ran towards them, and Sora blocked his sword slash immediately. Vanitas then swung his staff at the boy's head, but he ducked and slashed at Donald and Goofy. As Sora successfully did a combo attack on Riku, Vanitas heard the blue haired woman's voice in his head.

_"One Keyblade is enough... for any friendship."_

After Sora did another combo, Vanitas intercepted a swing from Riku's sword with a swing with his staff, then hit the boy in the side, hard with it. Donald whacked Riku with his staff, and Sora cast Aerora on himself.

As Vanitas ducked a slash from Riku's sword, he heard the woman's voice in his head again.

_"I learned that the hard way. I wouldn't wish our lives on those children."_

Vanitas kicked Riku in the stomach, then jumped up and kicked him in the chest, knocking him back. Goofy hit the silver haired boy with his shield and immediately blocked afterwards. Sora managed to get in a few more combo attacks, while deflecting some other slashes, before he got hit again. Donald used Cura to help Sora, and Sora returned the favor a few minutes later. Vanitas kneed Riku in the stomach as he heard the woman's voice again. This time, adding a small kid's.

_"Sora, do you like Riku?"_

Sora did another combo attack, while Donald cast Aerora on himself and Vanitas.

_"Of course I like him. He's my best friend."_

Goofy threw his shield at Riku, who deflected it. But Vanitas managed to catch it in the air and charged Riku with it. He punched the boy with his free hand, hit the shield in Riku's face, and slashed with it just as Riku slashed his sword at him, deflecting the attack before he tossed the shield back at Goofy.

_"So then, if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost..."_

Sora did a full combo attack, ending with the finisher Blitz. He was able to do this a couple of times in a row.

_"You make sure you stay with him and keep him safe."_

Goofy raised his shield, and Vanitas grabbed Riku by the hair on the back of his head. He smacked Riku's face right into the shield. Donald then blasted Blizzara at Riku, just as the silver haired boy twirled in a circle, slashing his sword.

_"That's your job, Sora."_

Sora finished the battle by using Strike Raid to repeatedly throw the Keyblade at Riku.

Riku crouched down with his elbows on his knees, right in front of the small fountain, across the room from the other four. Darkness flared around him, and he was wearing his casual clothes again. He ran up the stair case and out of sight. As they watched him run off, Beast finally came out of the doors, having finished off the heartless.

"So, your heart won this battle," Beast observed.

Sora nodded his head at their new friend.

"Let's get moving," Vanitas announced. He looked at Donald and Goofy. "I had a vision that Maleficent has all the princesses of heart here. Including Alice and Jasmine. She's using them to power up the final Keyhole. We gotta move fast."

They nodded their heads.

"And on the way," Donald interjected. "You can tell us the truth out of some of the lies you told us."

"It's gonna take a while," Vanitas warned, as they turned, ready for what came next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I type out Riku's name, there are so many moments where I hold down the shift key too long, and I hit the "i" along with the "r"


	27. The Mistress of All Evil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group makes their way through Hollow Bastion, and eventually reach Maleficent

The group of five ran up the staircase to find a closed door with the heartless insignia on it.

"What is this supposed to be?" Sora asked.

"I've seen this before," Vanitas explained, examining the door. "We have to find pieces to fill in these slots. Once we do, the door will open."

"So where do we find the pieces?" Goofy asked.

"If this place is anything like I remember, which it probably isn't," Vanitas looked at his friends. "Then they've probably been hidden around this room, and the library close by."

"Then let's get searching," Beast announced.

So they did. They started by going into the library, where Vanitas also helped explain that the books could be set up to move the bookshelves by placing all the books of the same kind in the same row. After moving the books around for a bit, they were able to come up with a clear path to the second floor of the library. Before they did, though, Sora stopped and approached a familiar looking chair and table underneath the staircase.

"Hey," he said in realization. "This is the place from..."

"From that vision," Vanitas said, grabbing his friend by the shoulder. At Sora's confused glance, he explained, "My powers glitched out and let me see it, too."

After processing that for a second, the group made their way up into the upper level of the grand hall. They went through a bunch of tests where they had to prove their strength magic, and whatever to large mounted monster heads. This granted them all four pieces they needed.

"That was easy," Donald remarked. He looked towards Vanitas. "So after that, you and Yuffie have been wondering if you will or won't?"

"Yeah," Vanitas said as they walked towards the door. "It's been really confusing. One moment, she feels weird about it, the next I feel weird. I have no idea where it's gonna go."

He had been explaining some truths about his life, and what few memories he had so far while they were on this excursion. It finally got to the most recent stuff, and how he was faring with Yuffie.

"Well, of course it'll feel weird," Beast interjected. "You knew her when she was a kid, and saw her grow up. And now that you are both old enough, the halted aging thing must make it feel especially awkward."

"Yeah," Sora added. "What with you officially being like, 25, but your body's still fifteen. You said it yourself, she's sixteen now. If you guys do get together, you can't figure out if it's a bad thing for you to do, or a bad thing for her to do."

"Exactly!" Vanitas said, pointing at his younger friend as they approached the door. "That's what makes this thing so damn confusing and weird. What are we supposed to do?"

The other four regarded each other before they looked at Vanitas.

"We don't know," they all said simultaneously.

"You're on your own there," Donald commented.

"Fuck," Vanitas said, miserably, as they regarded the door.

Sora put the pieces in the heartless insignia frame. The frame then glowed a bright light, and the door slid up.

The four then made their way through the castle, through all kinds of lift stops, activating all kinds of mechanisms, and climbing up the walls themselves as they fought heartless, going after Maleficent and Riku. They made it to a chapel like area with the designs of black thorn vines across the floor and walls, and ran to the "alter" where Maleficent stood, waiting for them.

"I'm afraid you're too late," she told the five of them. "Any moment now, the final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness. It is unstoppable."

"That's not gonna happen," Vanitas remarked.

"We'll stop it!" Sora agreed, summoning his Keyblade and getting in his battle stance. "After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"You poor, simple fools," Maleficent said, angry. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil!"

She raised her arms up, and a circular platform where she was standing rose into the air with some light.

"I've had ten years of frustration building up to this moment," Vanitas yelled at her as he pulled out his machete. "Bring it on, witch!"

Vanitas realized what he just said.

"Damn!" he muttered, looking down. "I said the wrong word."

He didn't focus on that for too long. The platform Maleficent was on glowed green light and started hovering forwards. Donald blasted Blizzard at it, Beast lunged to attack it, and Goofy threw his shield. Sora got to attacking with a combo, while Vanitas went all out. He jumped onto the platform as it hovered around and swung his machete at Maleficent, who retaliated by attacking him with her staff. Doing this, he distracted her from casting any spells, so the others were able to beat the platform enough to get rid of the magic.

The platform fell to the ground with Maleficent and Vanitas on it. Beast jumped on and slashed at the witch with his claws, and Sora jumped on a few moments later. He then used a combo attack on Maleficent, and their two attacks caused her to lose her concentration a bit. Vanitas used this chance and jumped up, punching the evil fairy in the face. Donald helped by blasting Maleficent with his own magic, and Goofy attacked her with his shield.

All of a sudden, Maleficent waved her staff, bringing out Defenders, and raising the platform back into the air. When she yelled about meteors, the group knew things were about to get ugly. Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy managed to get away as a portal opened up, releasing blue giant rocks. Luckily, before he got knocked out by the rocks, Donald was able to use Graviga on the Defenders, making them flat on the ground, helping the others finish them off.

Beast managed to slash Maleficent with his claws a few times before the witch knocked him off the platform with her staff. While they did this, Vanitas looked up and considered the giant blue rocks.

"What are you thinking of doing?" Sora asked, worriedly, remembering the look from back on Earth 616.

"Something stupid!" Vanitas announced, in exactly the same way as before.

While Goofy was throwing his shield at Maleficent, Vanitas leaped up, catching one of the giant blue meteors with his bare hands. While the intense heat would have seriously harmed him if he had his life force, it barely fazed Vanitas. He then turned in the air and lobed it at the floating platform. Maleficent exclaimed in surprise as the blue fire covered rock hit the platform, engulfing the witch in her own blue fire.

Vanitas landed next to his friends, who looked impressed.

"It's a good thing I couldn't feel that," he remarked. "Otherwise I wouldn't have hands anymore."

The four had to charge after the platform after it floated away from them again. Maleficent actually managed to recover from the attack pretty easily. She was immediately sending out attack spells at the five of them. Sora and Vanitas managed to dodge them, but Donald was already unconscious, and the other two got hit.

Goofy attempted to throw his shield at the Maleficent before he got knocked unconscious by another attack. She then knocked aside the shield, which Vanitas caught easily. Donald then woke up, and joined the other two.

Sora jumped on the platform and did combo attack after combo attack, all with amazing and uniquely powerful finishing attacks. Donald dodged the staff as he attacked with his own attack magic. Vanitas went full Captain America and slashed the shield at Maleficent. He deflected plenty of her attacks, got in some of his own, and used the shield for its original purpose and blocked behind many attacks from the evil fairy.

All of a sudden, Maleficent was a small green orb of light which flew to the other side of the room. The platform spun fast, knocking the three off, right before Darkballs appeared. After taking them out with little difficulty, the group pressed on, en which Vanitas returned the shield to the newly awoken Goofy.

Things were getting even more intense, if the black lightning was any indication.

They decided to end things as quickly as they could from there. Once they had gotten the platform on the floor again, Vanitas leaped up and grabbed Maleficent's staff, and the witch exclaimed in surprise.

"Now!" Vanitas yelled as he and Maleficent struggled for control of the staff.

Sora didn't hesitate and broke into Ars Arcanum, doing plenty of slashes before finishing with Ragnarok, which finished her off.

The group stood back and observed as the platform receded into the ground, Maleficant clutched her chest as she had a portal open behind her, which she slipped into, but the portal remained behind her.

"She forgot to close her door," Vanitas remarked before looking at his friends. "Doesn't she know that's just the perfect chance for a bunch of hooligans to break in and steal her sweets?"

For once, they understood Vanitas' metaphor. After replenishing their health and magic expenses, the five followed Maleficent through the portal. Needless to say, they weren't prepared for what was on the other side.

Riku was standing behind the wounded Maleficent, both of them facing away from the five. The room they were in was a giant circular chamber with large thorned vines surrounding the walls.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, garnering the silver haired boy's attention.

He was dressed in the bodysuit again, but this time he was holding a Keyblade. This one, however, had no keychain, and was pure black with a red hand guard. The teeth made the outline of a heart.

"Is that..." Donald asked as the five of them stopped.

"Yes," Riku said in a merged voice of his and a deeper voiced man's as he held up the Keyblade. "A Keyblade. But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts."

Maleficent had meanwhile turned so she was now facing the group while she clutched her chest.

"Allow me to demonstrate..." Riku said, looking up.

"Behold!" Riku announced as he quickly and suddenly plunged the blade into Maleficent's chest.

"Wha..." the witch exclaimed as a dark aura appeared around where the blade was plunged in.

"Now," Riku told her as she looked down at the gathering darkness. "Open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

Riku pulled the Keyblade out and disappeared through a portal. Green light suddenly surrounded Maleficent.

"This is it!" she exclaimed happily. "This power! Darkness... The true darkness!"

Green fire suddenly erupted from Maleficent, covering her as it rose in the air.

"I don't think we're gonna like 'the true darkness,'" Vanitas exclaimed as Sora stood in his battle stance.

The fire and dark energy surrounded Maleficent until she was suddenly a giant black dragon roaring at the group.

"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed with surprise as he pulled out his AR-15.

The group scattered just as the dragon blasted green fire breath at them. Vanitas slowly paced around as he fired very well aimed shots at the dragons head. Sora cast Aerora on himself and jumped up into a combo attack. Beast lunged at the head, Goofy threw his shield, and Donald blasted Blizzara.

Unfortunately, the dragon snapping at them and attacking them with its tail still managed to do some damage to the group. It then stomped its front legs on the ground, sending out shockwaves that also did damage.

Vanitas meanwhile continued to fire until his rifle ran out. He then slung it around his shoulder, and got an idea.

"Beast," Vanitas told the man as he got close. "I require your assistance."

A second later, the dragon started rising on its hind legs in the air.

"Now!" Vanitas exclaimed, running forwards.

Luckily, Beast got the message. The two ran underneath the dragon and managed to catch it by its underbelly. They had visible strain on their faces as they held up the massive dragon.

"I hate fucking dragons!" Vanitas yelled out, straining visibly.

The others were able to use the distraction to attack the dragon while it couldn't reach them with its front legs. Unfortunately, it was still able to get them with its fire breath. Vanitas decided to help them out. Straining visibly, he reached into his sling and pulled out his machete.

"With this!" he yelled out. "I stabbeth thee!"

"What?" Beast asked, confused.

"Nothing!" Vanitas answered.

He drove his machete into the dragons underbelly, stabbing it. The dragon then exclaimed in pain and stood up on its hind legs, dragging Vanitas up. It swung him into the air, making him lose his grip on his machete as he was launched into the air.

"This isn't what I meant when I said I wanted to get high!" Vanitas exclaimed as he fell through the air. The dragon was now on all fours, so Vanitas fell onto its back. Vanitas lost his footing and fell down the side of the dragon. He held on as hard as he could as the dragon tried throwing him around while it attacked his friends.

They continued trying to attack the dragons head while it kept breathing fire and stomping the ground. Eventually, green homing fire appeared in the air and started flying towards the members of the group. Soon enough, the dragon managed to be knocked around a bit while also getting in damage to the group. Donald, Goofy, and Beast were eventually knocked unconscious, and Sora and Vanitas were the only ones still fighting for the moment, with Vanitas still dangling from the beasts wings.

"Oh, I hate my plans," Vanitas muttered to himself as he thought of the plan.

He threw a Mega Potion into the air to heal Donald, Goofy, and Beast. He then let go of the wings and fell to the floor. He rolled on the ground, avoiding the dragons feet as he maneuvered himself so that he was now facing his machete. He grabbed it, pulled it out, then drove it in once again, this time right to the hilt. As the dragon roared in pain, Vanitas looked up at Sora.

"NOW!" Vanitas hollered.

Sora nodded and used Summon to bring Simba. They then gathered energy, and Simba roared out, attacking the dragon and finishing it off. Once the others reappeared, Vanitas pulled out his machete and ran towards his friends.

The dragon flailed around for a bit before it fell dead to the floor. The giant thorns disappeared in green fire, as did the dragons body. All that was left where it laid was a giant black scorch mark in the ground.

"How ironic," Riku announced as he came out of nowhere and walked onto the scorch mark. "She was just another puppet after all."

"What?" Donald asked.

"The heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Riku explained to them. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her. A fitting end for such a fool."

He wiped his boot on the scorch mark on the ground, and it disappeared.

"That just leaves you," Vanitas remarked.

Riku smirked as he stepped backwards into a new portal.

"Let's go!" Sora announced to his friends.

The others nodded in agreement and ran back out through the earlier portal, ready for what was next.


	28. Unpleasant Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fights are fought, and friends are reunited... along with some enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, not much to say near this point

With the dragon defeated, the group made their way through a new entrance through the chapel and made it into a large chamber. On either side, the princesses of heart were asleep in chambers, and a giant rug with the heartless insignia was on the floor in front of them. Large lanterns that flared blue fire lit the room. Past the rug was a set of two staircases, both of them leading up to the top of a large platform, leading to a giant heart shaped portal with a gold outline.

"Jesus," Sora said as they slowly entered the room.

"That, my friends," Vanitas said, gesturing to the giant portal. "Is the final Keyhole."

"The princesses," Donald exclaimed.

They ran around the room, stopping at each individual chamber. And sure enough, it was the six that Vanitas told them about. Snow White, Alice, Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella, and Aurora.

"What do we do?" Goofy asked.

"I could try breaking the glass," Vanitas started. "But I don't want to risk hurting them. And I don't have a solution for the giant rocks holding them in place."

Beast's roaring drew their attentions. He hadn't moved from Belle's chamber, and was trying to scratch at the glass with his claws.

"Beast!" Sora exclaimed.

"Try calming down!" Vanitas said, knowing as well as anyone how rough people could get while they were angry.

"Riku is just up there," Donald tried telling him. "He might know a way to get her out!"

"You go," Beast told them, not even looking over his shoulder. "I will not leave Belle here!"

He tried scratching the glass again, growing even more angry that not a single crack appeared.

"Fellas," Goofy slowly said. "I think we should listen to him and go off on our own."

"I think you might be right," Vanitas agreed.

The four of them edged away from Beast with their eyes wide as they walked towards the stairs. While they were sure the man wouldn't willingly hurt them, they didn't want to test their boundaries when they had already gotten this far.

They ran up the staircase and reached the top of the platform. At least, Sora, Donald, and Vanitas did. After the three of them walked between some railings, a barrier appeared and blocked off Goofy. Donald and Vanitas turned around, surprised, while Sora continued looking towards the center of the platform.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, running towards the unconscious girl who lay in the center.

He got on his knee and picked her up in his arms.

"Kairi!" he tried calling to her. "Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use," Riku's mixed voice announced.

The three of them looked at the top of the heart shaped portal. Riku sat on top of a ledge right above it.

"That girl has lost her heart," Riku told them. "She cannot wake up."

Sora put Kairi down and turned towards the portal.

"What?" he asked, standing up. "You... You're not Riku."

"That he isn't," Vanitas agreed, pulling out his Glock as he and Donald walked towards Sora.

"The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps," Riku told them as he floated down to the stairs that led to the portal.

"The princess..." Sora asked, looking down at Kairi. "Kairi's a princess?"

"She has a pure heart filled with light," Vanitas said. "I guess that fulfills the requirements."

"Yes," Riku agreed, landing on a large piece of wall that was on a large platform that stood above the stairs to the portal. "And without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened."

"Whoever you are," Sora started, growing more angry by the second. "Let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

"But first," Riku said, waving his Keyblade. "You must give the princess back her heart."

He pointed his Keyblade at Sora, and Sora grabbed his chest in pain. Light flashed where his heart was, and he fell onto his hands and knees, gripping his chest.

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed.

Vanitas looked worriedly at his friend, then back at Riku.

"What'd you do to him?" Vanitas asked, pulling back the hammer of his gun then pointing it at Riku.

"What's...?" Sora started asking.

"Don't you see yet?" Riku asked as he walked down the stairs. "The princesses's heart is responding. It has been there all along. Kairi's heart rests within you!"

"Kairi..." Sora said, weakly, as he turned and looked back at Kairi's unconscious form. "Kairi's inside me?"

"And not in the fun way," Vanitas tried joking to relieve tension. It didn't work.

"I know all that there is to know," Riku announced.

Angry, Vanitas tried shooting the ground at the silver haired boy's feet. The trigger wouldn't move.

"Oh, right," he muttered as he pulled back the chamber, then let it slide back into place.

He then shot his gun at Riku's feet, successfully this time, then pointed it back at Riku.

"You mind telling us who you are, all knowing one?" Vanitas asked, sarcastically.

"Tell us," Sora agreed, weakly.

"It is I," Riku said, looking up, then back towards the three. "Ansem. The Seeker of Darkness."

Vanitas' eyes widened, and all of a sudden, he was filled with unbridled rage once again.

"Xehanort," he growled out.

"Wait," Donald said, looking towards Vanitas. "He just said..."

"He stole our Master's name," Vanitas explained. "Before he eliminated the other apprentices."

Ansem started walking towards them. Donald then screamed out and charged the man in the teen's body. He lunged up, and Ansem just swatted him to the side, through another barricade. Vanitas just held his ground and pointed his gun at Ansem's head.

"It really isn't a pleasure to see you again, Vanitas," Ansem said as he got closer. "You sure have changed a lot. But can you really shoot a gun at a teenaged boy?"

"You, no doubt, are the reason he recently turned into a brutal prick," Vanitas said. "You just made this easier for me."

He fired the gun at Ansem's head, and his head swung back... but then it moved back into place, and the bullet fell to the ground.

"Well, now I know what happens when I try shooting a super powered person," Vanitas gulped.

Vanitas tried shooting Ansem three more times in the torso, and all the bullets deflected off of him and fell to the ground. Ansem just walked over to Vanitas, who made a reach for a weapon, right before Ansem knocked him aside with his Keyblade. Vanitas was knocked into a nearby console, and grunted in pain as he fell to the ground. Ansem quickly disregarded Vanitas and turned towards Sora, who was still on his knees.

"So," Ansem said, pointing his Keyblade at Sora. "I shall release you now, Princess. Complete the Keyhole with your power. Open the door, lead me to everlasting darkness!"

Ansem pulled back his Keyblade and swung it at Sora... but at the last second, Sora looked up and blocked it with his Keyblade.

"Forget it!" Sora exclaimed, holding the Keyblade with both his hands. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

He slashed the Keyblade aside, pushing back Ansem. The sound of a blade sliding out of its sheath brought the dark Seekers' attention to behind himself. Vanitas stood there, holding his machete. His face was scratched on the side, but otherwise looked unharmed.

"Remember," he told his old enemy. "I don't feel pain."

Ansem just smiled as the two got in battle stances.

Sora didn't hesitate to start things with Ars Arcanum. He swung his Keyblade a bunch of times at Ansem, but didn't use Ragnarok as a finisher. After that ended, Vanitas swung his machete at Ansem, who blocked it by slashing with his own Keyblade at the ravenette. He then spun in a circle, slashing his sword at the two, but luckily missing. Sora slashed his Keyblade at Ansem just as he slashed at Sora, and both attacks were cancelled. Sora then retaliated by using a counter combo attack, but it was interrupted by Ansem attacking him with his own Keyblade.

Ansem ended up behind Sora after the attack, so Vanitas slashed his machete at the seeker. The attack was intercepted, so Vanitas moved the Keyblade aside with his own blade, and jumped up, kicking Ansem right in the torso. Vanitas did a backflip and landed on his feet, and immediately had to block another attack from Ansem. With Ansem distracted, Sora ran towards him and used a combo attack on him. As Sora was finishing a second combo attack, Ansem swung his Keyblade, attacking him.

Sora healed with Cura and made an attempt at Ansem, who blocked the attack. Before he could attack, Vanitas rushed in and punched the possessed boy right in the face. Ansem looked at him angrily as he raised his Keyblade and swung it at Vanitas, who ducked.

Sora then ran in and attacked Ansem with a combo. He kept up the attack, getting a few combo attacks on Ansem, even when Ansem tried blocking them.

"Now witness real power," Ansem announced, as his left hand was covered in blue and red energy.

"I don't think we're gonna like 'real power,'" Vanitas said to Sora as they ended up next to each other.

Ansem slashed his Keyblade towards the two, and a large hurricane of white energy flew out, which they ducked. He then slashed his Keyblade towards the ground, causing energy to fly up out the ground on either side of him.

Sora and Vanitas did their best to block Ansem's powerful attacks on them, doing a good job as he slashed at them while laughing and uttering "Here it comes!" He then jumped up and stabbed into the ground, causing a shockwave before lightning came down and started following Sora and Vanitas. During all of this, Vanitas ended up behind Ansem, who was focused on Sora. Vanitas tossed aside his machete and grabbed Ansem and put him in a head lock.

"You wanna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" he asked his former apprentice mate.

"The hard way," Ansem confirmed.

He leaned down, hard, as he pulled Vanitas over himself and onto the floor.

"What just happened?" Vanitas asked, confused.

Before Ansem could attack Vanitas, Sora rushed in and attacked with combo attack after combo attack as he pushed Ansem around, and intercepting the seekers' attacks with his own Keyblade. A couple of times, Ansem did jump up and stab the ground, causing lightning to come down once again, but Sora and Vanitas both managed to dodge them.

Vanitas once again was on the floor again, and as Ansem was more preoccupied with Sora, he didn't even notice it when he got close to the ravenette. Seeing the opportunity, Vanitas kicked Ansem's legs out from under him, knocking him down long enough for Sora to rush in and do another combo attack.

Back on his feet, Riku turned towards Vanitas, who was also back on his feet. Ansem raised his Keyblade, but Vanitas quickly grabbed him by his shoulder. He kneed the possessed boy in the stomach, then punched him in the face. Sora then surprised Ansem by once again charging him and attacking with combos, throwing him around.

After enough attacks, Ansem called out "Welcome oblivion," as energy surrounded him once again. Sora then started dodging it as Ansem continued with his powerful attacks. Vanitas dodged as well, but since he didn't feel pain, he didn't make as much of an effort for it.

"Behold the power of darkness!" Ansem announced as he rose in the air, covered in blue energy.

He disappeared, and reappeared as he teleported multiple times around the platform, flying forwards in the air each time as he stabbed through the air in an attempt to attack the two. Sora and Vanitas got hit a few times, but otherwise dodged all of the attacks.

Vanitas jumped up and kicked Ansem in the back of the head. He turned and raised his Keyblade at Vanitas. But then Sora started Ars Arcanum, doing the full attack, including the finisher, finishing off Ansem.

Ansem dropped his Keyblade to the ground as his body disappeared into the darkness.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, hopeful for his friend.

"Sora!" Donald announced from the top of the staircase, where he stood with Goofy. "Vanitas! Guys, look!"

"The..." Goofy said, scared. "The Keyhole!"

Sora and Vanitas disregarded what just happened and ran up the stairs to join the other two at the portal. Sora pointed his Keyblade at the giant frame of the portal, as he usually did, but nothing happened.

"What the hell's going on?" Vanitas asked in disbelief. "Nothing's happening."

"It won't work!" Goofy pointed out. "The Keyhole's not finished yet!"

"What can we do?" Sora asked, dismissing the Keyblade.

"That seems to be the question," Vanitas said.

"Maybe we've gotta go wake Kairi up," Goofy suggested.

The four turned to face the unconscious girl still laying near the back of the platform.

"I think you're right," Sora said, placing his hand over his chest. "If we can free her heart..."

"But..." he said, looking up, confused. "But how?"

This led to the four of them looking towards the Keyblade Ansem had dropped.

"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts..." Sora said, thinking. "I wonder."

"Why don't I like your tone of voice?" Vanitas asked.

"Sora?" Goofy asked in equal confusion.

Sora climbed off the platform and walked down the stairs towards the Keyblade. He picked it up, and the others quickly realized what was happening.

"Sora," Goofy called out, afraid. "Hold on!"

"No, wait!" Donald called out.

"Hold on a second, man!" Vanitas called out, in equal fear as the other two.

Sora turned towards the three and smiled. He looked forwards and twisted the Keyblade in his hands so he was now holding it below the teeth, and pointing it at himself. He pressed the Keyblade into his chest, and light erupted from his chest. The Keyblade floated out of his chest, turning transparent, while the light continued to erupt from it. Sora just closed his eyes and held up his arms.

The Keyblade turned completely black before it transformed into six glowing balls that they knew were hearts. The others watched in awe as the hearts flew across the room and back into the chests of the princesses. Kairi's heart then flew out of Sora's which flew back into her chest, causing her to finally open her eyes. Sora's heart then flew out of his chest, and Vanitas grabbed his head in pain. He saw a vision of his blonde haired friend as he flew into darkness without a shirt and opened his eyes.

Sora smiled as light surrounded him and light erupted from the Keyhole portal. His face then went blank.

"Sora," Donald yelled as he and Vanitas ran towards the brown haired boy who started falling. "Sora!"

"No!" Vanitas yelled, swearing he could feel actual heartache, even though he knew he couldn't.

Kairi had also started getting up and witnessed for herself, Sora falling towards the ground covered in light.

"Sora!" she exclaimed as she ran towards him.

Kairi tried catching Sora, but he disappeared in a flash of light within her arms as she watched in shock. They all looked up as the orbs of light that used to be Sora flew up into the pitch black darkness that made it hard for them to see the ceiling.

"Sora!" Donald called out. "Come back, Sora!"

"Sora!" Vanitas yelled, in equal sadness.

The four of them all just looked up in sadness at the blackness obscuring the ceiling.

"Sora," Kairi said, uncertainly. "Are you really..."

"No," she said, placing her fist over her chest. "He can't be! I won't let him go!"

Something in the air changed, causing the four of them to look around in confusion. Kairi caught sight of Vanitas, and her eyes widened.

"We don't know why I look just like Sora, either," Vanitas told her, knowing what she was thinking before she even asked it.

Vanitas raised his hands towards his fallen weapons, hopeful this time, and his machete and Glock flew into them.

"For once," he said. "It actually worked."

"So," a deeper voice called from across the platform. "You have awakened at last, Princess. The Keyhole is now complete. You have served your purpose."

A tall tan man with long silver hair and golden eyes stood there. He had on a familiar looking cloak, white gloves, and shirt. The shirt was open to show his muscular chest, and the coat was held together with the heartless insignia.

"Ansem," Goofy said.

"Xehanort," Vanitas corrected him, his anger returning.

"But now it's over," Ansem finished as he started walking towards the four.

"Don't make another move!" Donald yelled as he and Goofy raised their weapons.

"Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" Goofy whispered to Donald.

"I don't know!" Donald whispered back.

"Don't worry," Vanitas said, anger growing even more. "I got this!"

He raised his machete and yelled as he ran towards Ansem. Ansem just raised his hand and picked Vanitas up with darkness. Vanitas was able to get a curse out as Ansem threw him across the room and onto a back wall.

Vanitas was able to see through the spots in his eyes, after suddenly remembering he could do that for some reason, and saw that a glowing Riku stood in front of Ansem.

"Riku!" he heard Kairi call out.

"You got to run!" he yelled out. "The heartless are coming!"

Shadows suddenly appeared around the four. They screamed as they started running down the stairs. Donald stopped as they passed Vanitas.

"Run!" he told his friends as he stood up. "I'm not leaving while Xehanort's still here. Go, now! I'll catch up."

Donald paused for a second before he reluctantly listened and ran with the others. Vanitas ran back up the stairs with his machete. Riku was gone and Ansem was facing him.

"It's been a long ten years, hasn't it?" Ansem asked with a knowing smile on his face.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit," Vanitas said, angry.

He raised his machete and charged Ansem again. This time, Ansem caught his hand and threw the smaller boy over his shoulder, right off the platform and down the stairs.

"Motherfucker," Vanitas spit out.

Vanitas then grabbed his head in pain. Something was odd, as this vision was different.

A blonde haired boy that looked exactly like his friend stood up in a small field of grass next to a wall. While the boy looked exactly like his friend, Vanitas knew that this wasn't him. A man in a black coat completely encovering him walked towards the boy.

"You seek answers," the man told the blonde in a regal sounding voice.

He waved his hand and Sora's name appeared in front of him in ornate blue letters. The boy looked at it, then back down.

"You feel nothing," the man said. "Nothing is real. I can give you purpose."

The man waved his hand, and the letters spun around the boy. He suddenly placed his hand in front of the boy, and the letter X appeared. The letters then slowly rearranged themselves to form a new name, this time in orange.

"Roxas," Roxas said, reading his name.

"That is right," the man said. "The new you."

Vanitas gasped as his vision ended. This just added even more questions to his already long list of questions. Who was that guy in the coat? How did he know how to find Roxas there? What was Roxas' connection to Sora, and why did he look exactly like his old friend?

Vanitas shook those questions aside as he slowly stood up. He could already tell that Ansem was gone, as the air was less dark. Vanitas thought about staying so that he could try to find Ansem, but then he remembered that Donald, Goofy, and Kairi were running away at this very moment. He looked back up at the frame of the Keyhole, then turned away from it and started running after his friends.

As he ran, he thought about something else. During that vision, he had caught sight of some of the man in the cloak's face. The latest question on his mind: why did that man and Ansem look exactly alike?

* * *

"Kairi, hurry!" Goofy yelled at the redheaded girl from the bottom of the stairs.

The three of them had made it to the foyer area where they had fought Riku. Donald and Goofy were already at the bottom of the stairs in the center of the room, but Kairi was still at the top.

"I can't leave them behind!" Kairi insisted.

"We can't stay here!" Donald shouted.

"There's heartless after us!" Goofy yelled as she ran down the stairs.

As if to prove his point, two Shadows jumped over the ledge at the top of the stairs towards them. However, as Donald and Goofy pulled out their weapons, two loud gunshots ringed out, destroying the Shadows. As if out of nowhere, Vanitas jumped off of the ledge and landed next to his friends.

"Ansem?" Donald asked.

"He left before I could do anything," Vanitas admitted.

"So why are you here?" Donald asked. "I figured you'd be tearing up the room looking for him."

"I would," Vanitas admitted. "But... I had to make sure my friends got out safely."

Donald and Goofy smiled at that, Donald in a more knowing way.

"Fuck off," Vanitas said, playfully.

All of a sudden, a Shadow appeared next to them.

"I'll take care of him!" Donald announced, raising his staff.

He hit the Shadow in the head with his staff twice, to no effect.

"Confounded heartless!" Donald yelled. "Get lost, will you?"

It was when the Shadow looked towards Kairi, that she and Vanitas both thought of something.

"Sora?" Kairi asked. "Is that you?"

"Buddy?" Vanitas said, leaning down slightly to be more face to face.

"Uh-oh!" Goofy interjected, as Shadows suddenly surrounded all of them.

"Fuck!" Vanitas exclaimed as he pulled out his Colt, pulling back the chamber.

Vanitas ran forwards and shot a Shadow. He then picked one up and slammed it into another against the ground. He then pointed his gun towards the heartless' head, positioning it right, and shot both of them at once.

Vanitas looked up with his friends to see that multiple shadows had surrounded Kairi.

"Kairi!" Goofy called out.

"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed.

Suddenly, all the Shadows were knocked aside in a flash of light. Once the light had faded, Sora stood there hugging Kairi as small orbs of light flew through the air.

"Kairi," Sora said. "Thank you."

"Sora..." she said, looking up at him.

"Sora!" Donald, Vanitas, and Goofy all said at once, excited.

More Shadows surrounded the five, and Sora joined the ones with weapons in getting in a battle stance with his Keyblade. All of a sudden, Beast appeared with a roar at the top of the stairs and jumped off. On the ground, he started slashing at Shadows.

"Go!" he yelled. "Now!"

"Come with us!" Sora insisted while Vanitas shot at the Shadows with his gun.

"I told you before," Beast pointed out. "I'm not leaving without Belle. Now, go! The Heartless are coming!"

Vanitas fired his gun one more time, only to hear an empty click as he took out another Shadow. He reached into his ammo pockets to find nothing.

"I'm out of ammo," he announced as he put away his empty guns. "We should probably listen to him."

"All right," Sora reluctantly agreed. "But we'll be back later."

"It's a promise," Vanitas guaranteed before he turned to his friends. "Now let's get the fuck out of here."

They turned and ran out of the grand hall.

Once they got back to the ship, Donald put them into orbit while Vanitas grabbed his head in pain again. This time he saw a girl with white blonde hair in a white dress appear out of darkness. Using some powers she had, she talked to a familiar looking set of armor that was on its knees, encouraging the person within to keep fighting so that he would find his friends. He agreed, determined to keep a promise he had made. A promise to...

"Vanitas!" Sora exclaimed, pulling Vanitas out of his vision. "What did you see?"

Vanitas breathed in and out as he tried to find a way to answer, not completely understanding himself.

"Nothing," he said. "But something tells me you releasing your heart to save Kairi had even bigger repercussions than we thought."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked as everyone looked at Vanitas in confusion.

"I'll... tell you guys later," Vanitas said as he moved towards the console with Donald. "Let's get to safety."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt it would work to have Vanitas see glimpses of Roxas' "birth," along with First Breath here, to let him know that something even bigger was going on. It won't have much of an effect on the story from here, but it will help him prepare for future events


	29. Taking Back a Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group recuperates back at Traverse Town, then goes back to Hollow Bastion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time I ever did the finishing off Hollow Bastion part, I skipped over the Belle part and went straight for the Keyhole. I did the Library cutscene afterwards, and was pretty surprised and confused. Also, to this day I question why they had the whole, "We'll never see each other again," thing with Leon and the gang in this part of the game, when in literally every other adaptation, they pretty much showed exactly how that gets thrown out the window

The group made their way back to Traverse Town, reaching the safety that Vanitas had announced. They travelled to the apartment complex that the others had occupied and met up with the others.

"Tell me what happened," Leon said as he leaned against his usual spot against the wall.

So, the four of them explained everything from Hollow Bastion. Each one filling in the gaps the others had missed.

"So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole," Leon observed.

"No wonder there are more and more heartless everywhere," Aerith commented. "The only way to stop them is..."

"Seal the Keyhole, right?" Sora finished, holding up the Keyblade.

"Maybe," Leon admitted. "But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed."

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora said, determined. "We have to do something. I've got a friend back there."

"That's your guys' home," Vanitas added. "We can't just leave it like that."

Leon nodded at Vanitas, then looked at Sora.

"That's right," he said. "You have more than one friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts... just like that Keyhole you saw." He looked towards Kairi. "Of course, without Kairi's heart, the Keyhole remained incomplete." He looked back towards Sora. "Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed. Don't worry, Sora. If anyone can save your friend, you can."

Sora nodded his head before he turned towards his friends.

"Since we don't have any other way there," Donald said. "We'll have to use the Gummi ship."

"It should work," Vanitas remarked. "But like Aerith just said, more and more heartless are showing up. You know how many heartless ships that has to be?"

"We'll... figure something out," Sora admitted.

"It seems the other princesses have been freed as well," Leon remarked. "Jasmine apparently hasn't returned to Agrabah. I suspect the others are still in the castle, too."

"Before we go, though," Vanitas started. "I gotta restock on ammo."

He placed his satchel on the table, opened it wide enough, then climbed up on top of the table.

"What are you doing?" Sora asked, as he Donald, Goofy, and Kairi looked on in confusion.

"Getting more ammo," Vanitas said, nonchalantly.

"Hup!" he exclaimed before jumping up.

He fell into the bag, vanishing completely. The others looked at Leon, surprised.

"That spell book he has," Yuffie explained. "He managed to do a bit more with it than he explained."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy, confused, climbed up onto the table and looked down inside the bag. They couldn't see much, so they looked up at each other, and sighed out.

"Why can he just never give a strait answer?" Donald asked, annoyed.

The three exclaimed as they each jumped into the bag. First Sora, then Donald, then Goofy. After falling a few seconds, they went through a circular chamber and landed one by one on a mattress. They looked up, and gasped out in surprise.

They were in a large chamber that extended out for a good long while in either direction from the wall they were in front of. Within the room, however, was what really drew their attention. There were rows upon rows upon rows filled with any kind of gun available as far as the eye could see. Shotguns on one side, assault rifles on another. Submachine guns hung by their straps on wall rings. Rocket launchers were littered here and there next to the crates filled with smaller handguns. And there wasn't one of each gun. Possibly dozens of the same kinds of guns were set up on the walls and on the tables.

Vanitas was close enough to them, at a table with shotguns, where he was stacking his ammo pockets with shotgun shells.

"Whoa!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed at once.

Vanitas looked up from the table towards his friends on the mattress.

"Oh, hey, guys," he said as he picked up some handgun magazines. "Didn't think you'd follow me in."

"What the heck is this place?" Sora asked as he stood up and got off the mattress.

"This is my armory," Vanitas answered, sliding bullets into the magazines. "Ten years, I've been filling it up a bit."

"A bit!?" the three asked at once.

"All right, a lot," Vanitas admitted, putting the magazines in his ammo pockets.

He put the rifles and shotgun he had been carrying around this whole adventure on the table. They were, unfortunately, still waterlogged from when they were in Atlantica. So, Vanitas grabbed a nearby Mossberg 500 shotgun that didn't have a stock. He put the Mossberg in his sling and put it back around his back.

"Let's get moving," Vanitas said, replacing his usual guns with a Beretta 92F in his holster.

"Hey, what's with the mattress?" Goofy asked.

"It's a big fall," Vanitas remarked. "Even if I can't feel it, I know that's gotta hurt a bit."

The others nodded in agreement before they followed Vanitas up the ladder rungs, out of the armory and the satchel. Vanitas then put the satchel back in his sling, and the four left the house.

They made their way to the First District, and approached Cid.

"Cid," Sora started. "We need to go back to Hollow Bastion."

"I don't think I can let you do that, kid," Cid said, wiping his cheek. "The heartless there are multiplying by the minute. They'd eat your ship up."

"Why do you think I'm here?" Vanitas asked, spreading his arms.

"Now, if you hadn't lost that ship we prepared," Cid said. "You could probably have gotten through with both."

"That wasn't my fault," Vanitas looked at Cid, annoyed.

"What can we do?" Sora asked.

"Simple," Cid shrugged his shoulders. "Go around 'em instead of through. Install a new navigation gummi and take a new route."

"A new gummi?" Sora asked. "Where?"

"The secret waterway," Cid answered.

"That piece?" Vanitas asked.

Cid nodded.

"When we came here 9 years ago," he explained to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. "I stored it there in case I ever needed it." He turned around. "Never thought a kid would be the one to use it!"

"Too bad you can't see what finger I'm holding up," Vanitas commented to the back of his friends' head.

The four made their way to the waterway where they found Kairi standing where Leon was once training with his sword. She was staring down the end of the cavern way where a mural of a shining sun with some clouds was on the wall.

"What a mysterious mural..." she commented. "It's almost hypnotizing."

"That's where," Vanitas answered.

They ran down the cavern towards the mural. Once they got close enough, the mural glowed a bright light, which converted the sun and clouds into a moon and stars. The light transformed into a Navi-Gummi piece that floated down into Sora's hands.

"How'd you do that?" Goofy asked Vanitas.

"That book has a _lot _of spells in it," Vanitas told him.

The group walked back through the cavern and met up with Kairi.

"Let's go back and join the others," Sora told her. "We should rest up."

"Okay," Kairi said.

"A light at the end of the tunnel..." she continued as Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas.

"Oh, your grandma's story, right?" Sora asked.

She looked at him.

"That's right," Kairi said. "We were together."

"You know what's funny?" Sora asked as he walked right next to her. "I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me all along. Finally, we're together, Kairi."

He paused.

"Now," he continued. "It's time to get Riku back."

"You think it'll ever be the same again between us?" Kairi asked. "Riku's lost his..."

"When I turned into a heartless," Sora said. "You saved me, remember? I was lost in the darkness. I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things: my friends, who I was, the darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard a voice; your voice. You brought me back."

"I didn't want to just forget about you, Sora," Kairi said. "I couldn't."

"That's it!" Sora exclaimed as he looked back down the cavern. He placed his hand over his heart as he continued. "Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale."

"Well, let's go," Kairi declared.

"You can't go," Sora announced, shaking his head.

"Why not?" she asked, offended.

"Because it's way too dangerous," Sora said, sounding like he was making it up as he went along.

"Come on, Sora," Kairi tried insisting. "We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."

"Kairi," Sora said. "Even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"

"I can't help?" she asked.

"You'd kind of be in my way," Sora admitted.

"Okay," she laughed. "You win."

Kairi suddenly grabbed his right hand and put something in it.

"Take this," she told him. She then put her fists on her hips. "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."

"Don't worry," Sora assured her, gripping the star shaped charm in his fist. "I will."

"Promise?" Kairi asked.

"Promise," Sora assured her.

"Don't ever forget," Kairi said. "Wherever you go, I'm always with you."

The two just stood there, staring at each other and smiling for a few seconds afterwards.

"Wow," Vanitas remarked from the doorway, surprising the two. "That's it? You guys are just plain embarrassing."

"How long have you been standing there?" Sora asked, for some reason afraid.

"The whole time," Vanitas answered, turning towards the staircase. "Damn, now I owe Goof 300 munny."

Sora and Kairi eventually followed the others back through the waterways, and they went back to the First District without Kairi.

"You found it?" Cid asked as they approached him. "All right, I'll go fix your ship."

He walked away from them, then came back after a little while of waiting.

"All set!" Cid said. "You can get going any time." He looked at Sora. "Kid, I gotta say, I wish you didn't have to face all this danger." He then looked towards Vanitas. "But I'm sure as long as you got this crazy bastard with you, you'll be all right."

They all shared a laugh.

"We'll see you around, Cid," Vanitas said, patting the mechanic on his shoulder.

"See you, guys," Cid said as the others waved goodbye as they walked down the road to the First District gates, ready to get to the ship.

* * *

While they flew around the hordes of Heartless in the Realm Between, Vanitas gripped his head as he had another vision. Roxas, the blonde boy who looked just like his friend stood in the middle of a large, white circular room with a familiar sigil on the floor, wearing a black cloak just like the man he met wore. He looked up gloomily and saw a man who looked a lot like Ansem looking down at him with a wicked smirk on his face. The vision then showed his friend, along with a brunette friend he also had that also looked a lot like Ansem. The two smiled at each other, and the vision ended.

_What the hell is going on?_ Vanitas thought.

What he didn't know was that this was one of the instances where he projected his thoughts into his friends' heads. Sora heard Vanitas' profane thought, and got the idea that something else must be happening, as they all had a clear idea of what was happening at the moment. But since Vanitas wasn't talking about it, Sora decided to just follow his follow his friends' lead and not talk about it yet.

They docked in Hollow Bastion right back at the bottom of the reverse waterfall, where they found Beast waiting for them.

"Where's Belle?" Sora asked.

"Still in the castle," Beast answered.

"Against her will?" Goofy asked.

"No," Beast answered. "I think she stayed for a reason. The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why?" Donald asked.

"Let's go find out," Vanitas announced.

"Yeah," Sora agreed.

"You may need my strength," Beast offered.

"Dude, you were already coming," Vanitas remarked.

They made their way back through the castle and reached the library. Beast took the lead as he walked up the stairs to the second floor. He reached the top and drew the attention of the brunette woman in the yellow dress that was looking through the bookshelf.

"Belle!" he exclaimed, relieved.

The two walked towards each other and embraced.

"You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" Belle asked, once they regrouped at a nearby table. "Please be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside. We've been holding it back... but we can't hold out much longer."

"We'll take care of it," Sora assured her.

"Yeah," Vanitas added, resting his handgun on his left shoulder with his right hand. "We got it."

The five made their way back to the chapel where they fought Maleficent, where they now found the other five princesses. They were separated into two groups: Snow White, Jasmine, and Alice in one, and Aurora and Cinderella in the other. They first walked over to the three. Once they got close, Snow White smiled at Vanitas.

"V!" she exclaimed happily. "It's so nice to see you again."

"You two have met?" Sora asked.

"Apparently," Vanitas said to Sora. He turned to Snow White and pointed at his head. "Amnesia. Sorry."

"Sora," Jasmine exclaimed. "Please hurry! Darkness is pouring from the Keyhole."

"It's all we can do to hold back the darkness," Alice added.

"I don't know how long we can manage even that," Snow White admitted.

"All right," Sora told them. "We're on our way."

"We're counting on you, Keyblade masters," Snow White told them. "In the meantime, we'll do what we can, too."

They then walked over to Aurora and Cinderella, both of them Vanitas was sure he had met before, too.

"We've been waiting for you, Keyblade masters," Cinderella told them.

"Where's Ansem?" Sora asked, at the same time Vanitas asked "Where's Xehanort?"

"Gone," Cinderella admitted.

"When the Keyhole appeared," Aurora explained. "Darkness poured out of it. It swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared."

"Fuck," Vanitas muttered, upset.

"Though Ansem is gone," Cinderella continued. "The flood of darkness hasn't stopped. We're working together to hold it back."

"I cannot forget the look on his face," Aurora said, sounding a little frightened. "As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling."

"Don't worry," Vanitas assured the ladies. "Once we finish things here, we're gonna put a stop to this sick son of a bitch."

The two smiled their heads, content, and Sora turned towards his friends.

"Let's move," he told them.

Vanitas nodded his head in agreement, and they ran out the chapel. They took out heartless along the way as they went through the lift stop, and the large chamber, until they reached the giant frame of the Keyhole. They entered the dark depths.

And found a giant heartless called a Behemoth waiting for them.

"Of course," Vanitas said, annoyed, as he pulled out his Mossberg and pumped it, while the others got their weapons ready.

The five got out of the way as the Behemoth lunged at them. Once it was in place, Sora and Vanitas climbed up onto it's back. They figured the unique horn on its head, so Sora started using combo attacks on it. Vanitas fired blast after blast from his shotgun, getting in a good amount of damage while Donald tried using Graviga on it for some reason. Vanitas did another blast from his shotgun, and he and Sora fell off the creature.

Luckily the Behemoth decided to be stupid and lower its head, giving them the chance to attack the horn. So they did, including Goofy and Beast. But then the horn was suddenly covered in blue energy, and it stomped its foot, making blue lightning surround it. Luckily no one got hit. Sora managed to get back on the Behemoth's back and started doing combos again, just as the Behemoth started gathering energy from its other two horns.

The fight wasn't particularly spectacular. It was pretty much just attacking the horn, trying not to let the monster stomp on them, and keeping it from doing its powerful attacks. Which was admittedly easier said than done, what with Donald and Goofy occasionally getting knocked out by the beast. But well after Vanitas had emptied his shotgun, Sora decided to use Strike Raid, and he finished off the monster by throwing his Keyblade through its horn a bunch of times. The Heartless just very simply disappeared into light afterwards.

The group then converged in the middle of the chamber, and looked at the Keyhole. It was on a very large heartless insignia that hung on a wall(?).

"Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole!" Goofy exclaimed.

"Sora," a familiar voice called from outside the Keyhole. "You did it."

Sora and Vanitas both turned towards the exit portal, recognizing the voice. The group walked out, seeing Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith waiting for them at the end of the platform. Well, Leon and Aerith were waiting for them, Yuffie was sitting on a railing dangling her legs. Sora and Vanitas walked towards them while Donald and Goofy stayed back next to the portal.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked.

"_How _did you guys get here?" Vanitas asked.

"We came in Cid's ship," Yuffie said, turning to look at the two.

"Oh, man, now how's he gonna get here?" Vanitas asked.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith told Sora. "Where Vanitas used to be an apprentice."

"Yeah," Sora said. "We got that when he played tour guide."

The small group chuckled at that.

"We wanted to see it again," Aerith finished.

"It's in worse shape than I feared," Leon said, looking around. "It used to be so peaceful..."

"Don't worry," Aerith told them. "If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island."

"Which I will mostly take a long vacation at," Vanitas added, patting his friend's shoulder with a knowing smile on his face.

"Really?" Sora asked Aerith, completely ignoring Vanitas' remark.

She nodded.

"But, it also means goodbye," Yuffie suddenly said, sadly.

"Once the worlds are restored," Aerith explained as Sora and Vanitas looked at her, confused. "They'll be separate again."

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie elaborated.

"Then we'll visit you guys with the gummi ship," Sora said, at which Vanitas nodded his agreement.

"It's not that simple," Leon said, crossing his arms.

"Before all this," Yuffie said, looking back over her shoulder at the two. "You didn't even know about the other worlds, right?"

"Because every world was isolated," Aerith said. "Impassable walls divided them."

"The heartless destroyed those walls," Yuffie said. "But if the worlds return, so will the walls."

"Which means gummi ships will be useless," Leon told them.

"So you're saying we'll never...?" Sora started.

The three just looked down sadly, so Sora joined them.

Vanitas wanted to call bullshit, though. He had had a dream one time that he swore was his past life, that involved him flying through the Realm Between wearing impressive gloves and boots. He wanted to bring that up, but he couldn't. While he was sure it wouldn't affect him, Vanitas _had_ been smoking marijuana the whole night before the night he had that dream, so he knew his friends would just chalk it up to the drugs.

"We may never meet again," Leon said to Sora. "But we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are," Aerith added, placing her hand over her heart. "Our hearts will bring us together again."

"Besides," Yuffie said, looking over her shoulder again. "I couldn't forget you even if I wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, raising a fist.

"Bitch," Vanitas laughed.

"Sora!" Donald exclaimed, drawing the twos' attention.

Darkness had started to gather in front of the portal in the frame.

"Hurry!" Goofy exclaimed. "Come and close the Keyhole!"

"Sora," Leon said. "Good luck."

Sora and Vanitas turned and nodded at Leon, then ran back into the portal with Donald and Goofy. The four ran up to the giant heartless sigil housing the Keyhole, which was now covered in purple and orange light.

Sora pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole, and stars flew into the tip. A beam shot out of the Keyblade and into the Keyhole, making the light around the heartless sigil disappear. The sound of a lock clicking originated, and the giant heartless sigil disappeared in blue light, followed shortly by the Keyhole.

"Wait for me a second," Vanitas suddenly told his friends. "There's something I gotta do."

Confused, the three relented and exited the Dark Depths. At the others' confused expressions, they explained that Vanitas wanted to stay behind for a bit.

"He's probably hot-boxing it," Yuffie suggested with a laugh.

Before anyone else could suggest anything else, the voice of the very man they were talking about called out.

"Boom!" Vanitas announced as he walked towards them.

The six turned to see Vanitas, and were surprised. He was shirtless, and was carrying his sling in his left hand that no doubt was holding his shirt and SHIELD outfit jacket as he flexed his arms.

His _bare _arms. His arms, along with his torso were completely devoid of the tattoos he had. Save for the Bratva star on his chest, and the FOB with the line over it on his left hand. Even his elaborate tattoo of the dragon was gone.

"Dude!" Sora exclaimed, surprised.

"Looking good, V!" Yuffie complimented.

"Shut up, baby, I know it!" Vanitas said in a cocky voice as he flexed his muscles. He then laughed and lowered his arms. "I'm just kidding. Thanks."

"How'd you do that?" Goofy asked, confused.

"Eh, that's not important," Vanitas waved his hand.

Donald looked intently at Vanitas' left forearm.

"Is that blood?" he asked, pointing at the red stain on the ravenette's arm.

Vanitas quickly wiped it off with his right fingers and looked up.

"No," he said casually.

"Oh, what is that smell?" Aerith asked. "It smells like something died."

Leon put the pieces together.

"V," Leon started. "Did you skin yourself in the Dark Depths since you couldn't feel the pain, use a Potion to heal yourself, but just discard the skin in there?"

"No," Vanitas exclaimed, annoyed.

Leon made one step forwards, and Vanitas quickly moved to block off his brunette friend.

"Maybe," Vanitas admitted.

After an appropriate enough amount of exclaims in disgust, Sora and the others decided it was now time to say goodbye. Luckily, Aerith was able to upgrade Cura for them to Curaga.

As they were talking about the remaining pieces of Ansem's report they had found in the library, Vanitas and Yuffie slipped off to the side as Vanitas put his clothes back on.

"So," he started, zipping up the sipper to his top. "There's a good chance we'll never see each other again."

"Yep," Yuffie said, knowing where he was going with this.

"So," Vanitas said. Looking directly at her. "Despite everything, I want to at least try."

Yuffie looked at him.

"How can we... try?" she asked.

"Like this," Vanitas answered.

He leaned in and caught her lips with his. He held the back of her head with his left hand, and she placed her left hand on his right shoulder as the kiss deepened. After they did this for a few seconds, they separated, gasping for breath.

"Wow," Yuffie whispered.

"Yeah," Vanitas whispered. "Wow."

They just stood there for a few seconds, staring into each others eyes. They did this for a few seconds, before they quickly turned away from each other.

"Too weird!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Too fucking weird!" Vanitas agreed.

They both exclaimed in disgust before they turned and looked at each other again.

"Well," Yuffie said, shrugging her shoulders with a slight smile on her face. "At least we know."

"At least we know," Vanitas agreed, also shrugging his shoulders.

They each smiled at each other for a second before Vanitas turned and started walking down the stairs with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Sorry," Donald told the ravenette.

"We know how much you wanted it to work out," Sora lamented, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"It's all right," Vanitas assured them. "I'll be okay."

"If you're sure," Goofy said.

"I'm sure," Vanitas said, smiling. "Now let's move, we gotta talk to the princesses before we leave."

The others agreed, and they made their way through the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this fic is now officially my longest fic


	30. A Not-So-Mysterious Figure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group meets with the princesses, then faces off against a different foe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I'm glad that in the later games, Donald, Goofy, and other party members actually take part in the conversations that happen

With things done in the large chamber, the group of four went back to the chapel to meet with the princesses.

"Thank you, Sora and Vanitas," Alice said to them. "I think the darkness has begun to weaken."

"But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away," Jasmine announced.

"It's the heart of darkness," Aurora declared. "It must be where Ansem went."

"Then we'll take the gummi ship," Sora told them. "And deal with both Ansem and the heartless."

"We'll beat the shit outta 'em," Vanitas assured the ladies.

"A worthy answer, Keyblade masters," Cinderella said. She looked at Vanitas. "Even if yours is a little unorthodox."

"That's just how I roll," Vanitas smirked.

"We offer this power to aid your battle," Cinderella said.

Sora felt energy flow through him. Fira was now Firaga.

"Hey," Vanitas said. "Now your fire's probably on par with mine."

"Sora, Vanitas," Snow White said. "Your courage can bring back our worlds."

"Once the darkness is gone," Aurora said. "All should return to its original state."

"Kairi will be back on the island?" Sora asked.

"Most certainly," Cinderella confirmed. "And you should be, too."

"I can't go home 'til we find Riku and the king," Sora told them.

"Uh, guys?" Vanitas asked, looking past the princesses. "Was that there before?"

The four others looked behind the princesses at the alter they had faced Maleficent at earlier. It was where the portal that led to the chamber where they fought the dragon had appeared then disappeared. They could remember that it was gone when they had come back and talked to the princesses just minutes before fighting the Behemoth. But the portal was now back.

"That definitely wasn't there when we got back," Donald said.

"What do you guys think is inside?" Beast asked.

"Considering Maleficent was the one to open it last time," Vanitas started. "Probably something bad."

"Looks like you'll have to wait to get your revenge on Ansem," Goofy said.

"Xehanort," Vanitas corrected the talking dog. "And I can wait. We can kick the ass of whoever this is as a warm up."

He took out his Beretta and slid back the chamber to emphasize his point.

The five walked through the portal and back into the chamber. They looked around curiously as they got close to the center of the room. Until they suddenly stopped when they could feel someone else appear behind them. Sora and Vanitas turned back towards where the portal was in surprise.

A tall man in the black coat was walking towards them.

He suddenly walked through Sora, and he heard multiple things he had said throughout the entire journey so far in his head. As that ended, he fell onto his butt on the ground. He turned around, confused as the man continued walking forwards.

Vanitas suddenly remembered the height and build of this man from his vision. This was the man who had found Roxas.

"Who are you?" Sora asked as he stood up.

"Ah," the group heard the man's voice, even though they couldn't decipher it too well. "It seems you are special, too."

"Ansem?" Goofy asked.

"No," Vanitas suddenly answered. "But someone similar."

The man looked over his shoulder at them, even though they couldn't see his face.

"That name rings familiar," he said.

Lightning suddenly appeared in the man's left hand, then a ball of blue electric energy.

"You remind me of him," the man then said.

Vanitas suddenly saw the image he saw earlier of the boy, Roxas, then Sora. Even though he didn't get the full scale, he somehow knew that the two were connected.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

Sora gasped when he saw the man turning towards him. He summoned his Keyblade and held it up in defense as the man shot his lightning from his hand and at Sora. Sora grunted as the energy gathered against the Keyblade as he held it with both hands. He then slashed the energy, launching it towards the ceiling, where it blew up. Debris fell to the ground as they stared at the man.

"It means you are not whole," the man simply said. "You are incomplete."

"Allow me..." the man continued. "To test your strength."

Sora just stared at the man with a neutral look on his face. He then moved into his battle stance as his friends summoned their weapons."

"You done fucked up, guy," Vanitas said, pointing he Beretta at the man.

Sora quickly got out of the way as the man launched two bigger orbs of electric energy at him. Vanitas fired his Beretta multiple times at the man, but even though he was sure he had aimed right, he could also see the bullets not making an impact.

"What the fuck?" Vanitas asked as Donald tried using Graviga on the man while Sora used a combo attack.

The man then threw up an electric barrier, which Sora dodged then did another combo attack. Unfortunately, the man threw up another barrier, which hit Sora. Sora dodged it as the man tried attacking Sora with red blades of energy that appeared from his hands, but Sora dodged it. Goofy got it and tried to attack with his shield, but got hit by the blades. Beast slashed his claws at the man, which damaged him, but somehow didn't affect the man's cloak.

While the others were distracting the man, Vanitas ran up behind him when he got the chance, and put his Beretta to the man's head. Making sure he didn't miss this time, Vanitas put the end of the gun close enough to the man's head, and pulled the trigger. However, like before, nothing happened. The man just simply turned towards Vanitas.

"I done fucked up," Vanitas muttered.

He backflipped away as the man tried slashing at him with the blades from his hands. Sora slid in and tried to attack with parts of a combo, but he was stopped quickly by the man's blades. Donald used Curaga on Sora while he dodged another attack. The man threw up another barrier before he slashed with his blades again. Beast rush attacked the man, right before the man launched out another two big orbs of electric energy.

Sora managed to get in another combo attack, this one stunning the man a bit with some help from Donald using Graviga. Goofy whacked the man with his shield, and Vanitas jumped up and kicked the man in the head. Unfortunately, the man managed to get out of the stun quickly, and just as quickly retaliated with his red blades.

Donald continued to keep using Graviga on the man, to little effect. Sora and Goofy got in some attacks, and Vanitas would add in some punches and kicks while the man was distracted. Sora eventually got smart and started dodging when the man set up the barriers, knowing that he would attack with his blades. This didn't entirely protect him, though, as he still got hit every once in a while.

Donald and Goofy healed Sora with Curaga and a Potion, while Beast rushed the man again. Vanitas, himself, finally decided to be smart and pulled out his machete with his right hand. While Sora missed another combo starter, Vanitas slashed at the man with his machete. Like he expected, it did about as much damage as the Keyblade. But, he got too close and got knocked on his back when the man slashed at him with his blades.

The man then launched out two more large orbs of electric energy, this time much closer to him since they were near a wall. So, Sora attacked the man, causing him to get hurt by his own attack, stunning him a bit. Once Vanitas got back up, everyone was able to attack the man for a bit, until the stun wore off, and he floated away through the air.

Although a little surprised by this revelation, Sora used Curaga on himself, right before the man converted himself into black clouds.

"This guy is just pissing me off," Vanitas commented to Beast.

"Me, too," Beast remarked.

The man suddenly appeared next to Sora and tried to do something, but Sora managed to stop him with a retaliation attack. Before he could take it further, the man launched up some smaller blue orbs, which formed into a circle in the air. Before the orbs could do anything, Goofy just backed up into the orbs, which hurt him, but disintegrated all the orbs. The man then turned into a cloud, reappeared, then launched out two larger orbs of electric energy. He did this two more times before replacing the large orbs with the smaller orbs, twice. Which, turned out to transform into blue laser beams that flew after Sora. All of a sudden, Sora was held up by another electric beam that originated from the man's hand. Energy suddenly surrounded himself, Donald, Goofy, Beast, and Vanitas.

The energy caused all of them to take damage as they moved around, while the spell kept them from being able to attack or heal. But luckily, Vanitas still didn't feel pain, so he was able to shrug it off. Unfortunately, that didn't help Donald and Goofy from getting knocked out. Even more luckily, Sora managed to break through the shocks just before anything particularly bad could happen to him and Beast. Vanitas immediately threw up a Mega Potion, healing everyone from the attack.

The man then flew around, doing his own vicious looking combo with the blades from his hands, which the group members did their best to dodge. The man then transformed into a cloud, reverted back, then sent up smaller orbs, twice. Sora managed to dodge the lasers, while Vanitas slashed at the man with his machete. Sora then got in close and tried to do another combo attack on the man. He tried three times to start a combo. Each time, he got hit so bad things had gotten to critical levels, and each time, Donald used Curaga to help the teen.

After blocking a few attacks, Sora managed to get in another combo attack, followed quickly by Vanitas and Beast. But, then they were attacked, doing a great bit of damage to themselves. The man then turned back into a cloud and moving away, and Vanitas groaned as something told him that they still had a ways to go in this fight.

The man held up Sora with an electric beam once again, causing the energy to surround the group, once again keeping them from attacking or healing. Once again, Sora managed to break through the shocks right before something especially bad happened, even though Donald, Goofy, and Beast were knocked out.

Vanitas threw up another Mega-Potion just as the man turned back into clouds and flew right through Sora again. The man turned back into a human (maybe), and Sora rolled out of the way just as he sent up the small orbs. He continued the orbs as they transformed into lasers and flew after him. The man then sent up the larger electric orbs, which flew right past Beast and Donald.

Vanitas ran up to the man and kicked him in the back, before slashing at his head with his machete. Vanitas cartwheeled to the side just as the man tried attacking him with his blades, then Goofy rushed the man with his shield. Donald whacked the man with his staff right before he transformed into clouds again. He then reappeared and threw out two large orbs again. Sora got damaged by the orbs, but shrugged it off and pushed the man into his own electric orbs. The man was once again stunned by the electricity, and the members of the group attacked him.

The man quickly threw up another barrier, then Vanitas grabbed him, just as he turned into clouds again, this time taking Vanitas along for the ride. The clouds flew around, with the bluish light in the middle occasionally flashing red, to represent the ravenette. After a little while of the clouds flying around, a bit more roughly this time, they transformed back into the people, causing Vanitas to fall to the ground with a grunt.

"Are you all right?" Sora asked as he and Goofy ran to the fallen teen.

"I've seen things, guys," Vanitas said, pushing on his knee to help himself stand up. "None of 'em pleasant."

The man then floated around, dispersing slightly larger red orbs, which immediately transformed into red lasers, which flew after Sora. The man then floated around, doing a sort of combo attack with his red blades, slashing all around the entire area. Just as the man finished, Vanitas caught one of his wrists in his hand. Vanitas jumped up and kneed the man in his chest, causing him to lean forwards a bit, then jumped up again and elbowed him in the shoulder blades.

The man then disappeared and reappeared a few feet away from Vanitas. He held up Sora once again with the electric magic, which caused the energy to surround everyone again. And like the previous times, Sora managed to break through the spell before he could die, but Donald, Goofy, and Beast were still knocked out.

Vanitas grabbed the shield from the unconscious Goofy and charged the man. He blocked the man's slashes with his blades with the shield, got in close, and did his own slashing. First, he used the machete to slash the man on the lower torso area, then again in the chest. He then smacked the man with the shield directly, but not too much damage was done.

Sora then rushed in and did another combo attack just as the man tried attacking Vanitas with his blades. Vanitas then jumped back and saw his newly conscious friends running to their aid. He then threw the shield at the man, which smacked off of him, and flew back into Goofy's hand. Sora had just knocked the man back into another giant orb of electricity, stunning him just enough.

Beast rushed the man with enough force to break concrete walls, like he had done earlier. Donald used Graviga one more time. Goofy smacked the man with his shield. Vanitas kicked the man right in the chest with a side kick. And Sora used Ars Arcanum to the full extent and finished the fight.

The man had blue and black energy flare from his chest as he stood across the chamber from the five who had just beat him. The energy continued to pulse, before he simply gestured his arm to the side, which caused a flash of light that dispersed the energy.

"Impressive," the man admitted.

Sora exclaimed, confused.

"This will be enjoyable," the man said.

"What are you talking about?" Sora asked as he charged at the man.

He jumped up and raised his Keyblade in an attack. He slashed through... and ended up passing right through the man, to no effect. He turned to face the man, who looked over his shoulder at the boy.

"It is beyond your comprehension," the man simply said. "For now."

"Then simplify it for us," Vanitas said, loading a new magazine into his handgun and sliding back the chamber.

The man just looked at Vanitas then back over his shoulder at Sora.

"Until we meet again," he said to the two.

"Wait," Sora exclaimed, confused. "What are you..."

He was cut off by the man starting to disappear. Vanitas fired a bullet where the man's head was as it flashed in and out of existence, but as he expected, nothing happened, until the bullet embedded itself into a nearby wall.

"I am..." was all the man said. "But a mere shell."

And Sora and Vanitas just watched in awe as the man disappeared.

"What," Sora said, looking at Vanitas. "What did you mean, he was similar to Ansem? And what did he mean that he was a 'mere shell'?"

"That level of power..." Vanitas said. "I think that that was near how Xehanort was before the shit hit the fan nine years ago. I don't know how to explain the 'shell' thing, though."

"What do we do about him?" Donald asked.

"For now," Vanitas said, looking around at his friends. "I don't think there's anything we can do about him. I mean, can we really find where he could have disappeared to?"

"You've got a point," Goofy admitted.

"But we can't just do nothing!" Beast interjected.

"We're not doing nothing," Sora told him. "Right now, we can just take care of Ansem and stop the darkness. That'll help you, Belle, and everyone else get home."

"Watch over things here," Vanitas instructed their ally. "While we finish off Xehanort."

"I will give it my all," Beast said, slightly bowing for his friends. "I hope we can meet each other again in better circumstances."

"I'd like that," Sora said.

"Me, too," Donald agreed.

"Yep," Goofy agreed, nodding his head.

"Totally," Vanitas agreed with a slight smile on his face.

"No, go!" Beast told them. "And be ready for a fight!"

Sora nodded his head, and the five ran back through the portal. They said goodbye to the princesses, and Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you in disbelief, I can assure you that in this portion of the Kingdom Hearts Timeline I saw, Donald really does use Cure on Sora. And he really DOES do it this many times!


	31. All That's Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang travels to the world of Darkness Ansem went to, only to find trouble

The group travelled through the Realm Between, through a lot of darkness and heartless, before they reached the world of Darkness. They exited the ship and ended up in a small chamber. They walked out to find themselves on a purple rock platform in the middle of a giant lake. In front of them spread out the lake, with small rock stalagmites in the water, some with sand on top, and chests floating above them. Across the river from them was a portal that they knew led somewhere important.

"Gawrsh," Goofy exclaimed. "Is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the heartless?"

"Not if there's anything we can do about it," Vanitas assured his friend.

"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora asked, trying to help.

"You betcha," Donald agreed.

"But," Sora said, a new thought growing within his mind. "If we do beat him, and all these worlds become restored and disconnected, what's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh..." Donald said, thinking about it.

"That," Vanitas said, placing one hand on his hip, and the other on the back of his head. "I don't know."

"This is a heartless world," Goofy said. "So maybe it'll just disappear."

"Huh?" Sora and Donald asked, looking back at the dog.

"Reassuring," Vanitas added, looking back at him, too.

"But no worries," Goofy said, walking forwards to join them. "Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere. I'm sure we'll find our pals again. Yup, I just know that we will."

Donald nodded his head in agreement as he looked towards the water with Goofy.

"Hell, yeah," Vanitas agreed, nodding.

"Yeah, you're right," Sora said, looking down at Kairi's good luck charm in his hand.

_Seriously,_Vanitas thought. _Are these two ever gonna admit their feelings to each other?_

"Now how do you suppose we get across this water?" Goofy asked.

"Well," Vanitas said. "This is a heartless world, so I don't think it obeys the laws of physics."

He held up one of his feet, and placed it on the water. This proved his theory as the water was solid. He took another step, and helped validate his point as he looked back towards his friends.

"Laws of physics be darned," Sora said, walking towards his friend.

Donald and Goofy followed as they gathered together and started walking across the water. All of a sudden, a large orb of darkness flew down from the air and consumed them. This transported the four into a small chamber, with flying shadow like heartless that wielded swords around them. They quickly took out the Heartless and were transported back to the river.

They travelled across the river, occasionally falling within more orbs, and fighting more heartless along the way. The four of them eventually made it to the end of the river, where another orb transported them into a chamber with another Behemoth. The four quickly took it out, and were transported to a new area.

They were now in a gigantic hallway like area, on a very high ledge. More ledges spread out in front of them, each one of them with a snow like substance on the floor, many of them with multi colored crystals on top of them.

"I wonder where that Ansem feller went?" Goofy asked.

"Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him!" Donald exclaimed.

"The places we just went through weren't dangerous?" Vanitas asked.

They parkoured their way through the chamber, eventually reaching near the bottom, onto the lowest ledge. This platform had a giant hole in the middle, which led into a giant portal with a tornado like entrance. They jumped in.

They were on a new circular chamber with spiked edges. A blue orb was on the part across from them, and a green orb was right behind them, where they just came through the portal. The four walked through the orb, and ended up on the next platform, this one with purple fire in front of them. They walked inside, and ended up inside the First District from Traverse Town, where they had to fight heartless.

"What the heck is this place?" Donald asked.

"Parts of the world," Vanitas said.

"Remember," Sora said. "The worlds were targeted by the heartless. Fragments must be here."

And they were proven right. They ended up in areas from the various worlds they had been to where they had to fight heartless. The rabbit hole from Wonderland. The woods from Deep Jungle. The area outside the Olympus Coliseum. The marketplace from Agrabah. A chamber within Monstro. The bridge from Earth 616. Oogie's chamber from Halloween Town. An underwater chamber from Atlantica. Then the pirate's hold from Neverland. Although they reached the 100 Acre Wood, it turned out to just be a respite area.

They then reached a new area that Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't recognize. They were in a hallway that had a door on one side, and a large heartless insignia hovering in the air across from them. Vanitas recognized the place.

"This is the more horrific part of the basement from Hollow Bastion," Vanitas told them.

They remembered parts of the report that Ansem had written.

"Where Ansem found the first heartless?" Sora asked.

"And where he made that machine," Vanitas confirmed.

Heartless appeared, and the four quickly took them out, and then the doors nearby opened. They slowly walked inside with their weapons at the ready, where they found the elaborate looking machine, and patches in the walls that looked like the portal they had exited.

"This is the machine," Vanitas said, walking towards it.

Sora followed and looked at the machine.

"There's something here," he said, garnering his friends' attentions.

They gathered around and read something imprinted on the machine.

_Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all. Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by two keys. The door to darkness to seal the light. None shall pass for shadows, returning to the darkness. Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens._

"What the heck does that mean?" Donald asked.

"The message to all the heartless," Vanitas said, his head hurting a bit from the familiar terms. "For all of them to search out hearts to add to Kingdom Hearts."

"What's Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked.

"I don't remember," Vanitas said, gripping his head. "But I'm pretty sure it's really important, based off of this report."

More heartless appeared, and the four quickly took them out.

"Let's go," Goofy said.

They exited the chamber and back onto the final platform. This transformed the pillar of fire into a pit, with wind rushing inside.

"That's new," Sora remarked.

"Whatever's inside can't be good," Vanitas said.

"Is anything on this world good?" Donald asked.

Vanitas had to admit his feathery friend had a point. After reaffirming themselves of their strength, the four jumped in.

They slowly floated down the air with pixie dust once again around them, allowing them to fly. A large mountain eventually came into view, with something covering the top.

"Wait," Vanitas said. "Bald Mountain?"

"You recognize this place?" Goofy asked.

"A book of myth I read during my rampage," Vanitas told them. "It mentioned this mountain, and the being that resides within."

"What being?" Sora asked, nervously.

His nervousness was justified. A gigantic, muscled, black being with wings on back, pointed ears, fangs, and yellow eyes uncurled itself, and roared into the air.

"Chernabog!" Vanitas exclaimed, pulling out his Beretta.

Sora exclaimed as Chernabog crossed his arms at the four. He wasted no time and flew towards Chernabog's head, starting out with a combo attack. Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy followed along. They wall attacked with their various weapons, right before Chernabog surrounded himself in fire. Vanitas then dodged it as Chernabog breathed out fire, while Sora did various combos out of the way. Unfortunately, after a good amount of time of them beating down Chernabog, he actually started knocking them aside with his wings.

Chernabog then surrounded himself in even more fire, which Sora and Vanitas managed to dodge. Donald and Goofy got burned a good amount, but Sora and Vanitas helped them with healing spells and Potions. They went in once again and whaled on the gigantic being once again, getting in lots of damage, right before Chernabog used a spell to knock them all across the gigantic area.

They managed to get close enough again before Chernabog released lots of flying blue orbs that went all around, which Sora could immediately tell were dangerous. Luckily, Donald and Goofy got in close and did their own attacks. Sora raised his Keyblade to do the finishing blow, but Vanitas cut him off by emptying his handgun clip into the monster's head.

Chernabog was then covered in purple and white fire that flew really high in the air and burned for a good, long while. After the fire burned for a few seconds, it disappeared, and Chernabog was gone.

"That was easier than I expected," Vanitas said, putting a fresh clip in his Beretta.

"What were you expecting?" Sora asked.

"Well," Vanitas said. "The book listed him as 'the eternal god of evil,' so just... a bit more."

"Well, whatever the case," Donald said. "Look."

They followed his pointing finger to see the mountain was now empty, revealing a large entrance.

"That's gotta be our way through," Goofy suggested.

"Let's go," Sora said.

They floated down into the mountain and ended up in a new chamber like area. They made their way to the lower portion of the chamber, and went through a new area. They travelled through more and more areas, each of them looking like depressed portions of worlds that had fallen to the darkness. The group winced at the thought of how many people had to have lost their hearts and homes, and made their way through the chambers.

They eventually made it into a new chamber with a green, scale like floor, and a heartless insignia on the wall opposite of the portal they came through. But the four of them immediately scattered when a new Behemoth leaped at them. Vanitas pulled out his Mossberg and they immediately went to work. He and Sora climbed onto the heartless' back, and they quickly attacked the horn. Sora was practically ruthless with his quick combo attacks. Vanitas provided cover fire with his shotgun, while Donald and Goofy got stomped by its feet before they could attack. Sora and Vanitas finished off the Behemoth, and as it was destroyed, they fell to the ground, near the heartless insignia on the wall.

Light flared on the insignia, and a piece fell off.

"The more heartless we defeat," Vanitas put it together. "The more the way through is revealed."

So, Vanitas pumped his shotgun, and they prepared. Just in time, as a bunch of Darkballs had appeared.

They fought for a good, long while. The four of them had to fight wave after wave of powerful heartless, using as many of the abilities and tricks they had learned so far during this adventure. After taking out dozens of Darkballs, the winged shadows called Invisibles, and what were probably winged vases, the group eventually took out enough heartless to clear the path to the next room.

Which turned out to be a small circular chamber with a familiar set of double doors in them. There were small, fountain like pieces near the walls that gave the room a calming atmosphere, which was the first time the four of them had felt that the entire time they had been on this world.

"How much ammo do you have left?" Goofy asked Vanitas.

Vanitas checked in his ammo pockets.

"Seven shells and three clips," Vanitas admitted. "But it should be enough."

He put his shotgun back in his sling and replaced it with his fire axe.

"Huh?" Sora suddenly said as he stood in front of the doors.

"What's wrong?" Donald asked.

"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked his friends. "There!"

And all of a sudden, Vanitas could hear the voice that was in Sora's head.

_Careful_, the voice said. _This is the last haven you'll find here. Beyond, there is no light to protect you. But don't be afraid. Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all. Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light._

"I don't hear anything," Donald announced.

"Strange," Sora said. "That voice was so familiar. Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Maybe you'd better take a rest!" Donald remarked.

So they did take a little rest. But while they did, Vanitas couldn't stop thinking about the voice in his younger lookalike's head. Where did it come from? How did it start? And why did the voice sound so familiar to him?

All these questions added on top of his current questions. All of them which had to be pushed to the back of his mind at the moment. After resting up for enough time, they opened up the double doors, which released a bright light that engulfed the four.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the descriptions for parts of End of The World are pretty hard to do. The world is just so damn random


	32. Wave of Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group takes on Ansem and the darkness

The four of them ran through the light, right onto a familiar sandy beach. They stopped right at the shore in front of the water, and Sora and Vanitas realized something.

"Is this..." Sora said. "Is this my island?"

Vanitas looked around, recognizing the palm trees, the waterfall of freshwater, the entrance to the secret place, the giant tree, and the bridge leading to the small expanse that he had met Sora. But very quickly, they could tell something was wrong. The waterfall disappeared, along with a bunch of ladders, ramps, and the wooden bridge.

"I think something's up," Vanitas remarked.

"Where do we go from here?" Donald asked.

Sora thought about that for a second, before he remembered something.

"Where did it start?" he asked, looking at Vanitas. "When did the island fall apart that day?"

Vanitas was confused for a second, before he realized what his friend was talking about.

"When that door opened in that cramped place," Vanitas said.

"The secret place," Sora corrected him.

The two turned and looked where the entrance to the secret place was from their location.

"There!" Vanitas announced, pointing to help the two who didn't know what they were talking about.

The four of them jumped up the ledges, and started to run towards the secret place. But then, something made them stop in their tracks.

"_This world has been connected,_" a familiar voice announced from somewhere.

Goofy looked to the side.

"What was that?" he asked, as the small expanse in the water disappeared.

"_Tied to the darkness_..." the voice continued as another part of the island disappeared. "_...Soon to be completely eclipsed._"

"_There is so very much to learn..._" the voice continued as the water turned black, and the island started to shake. "_You understand so little... A meaningless effort._"

Everything suddenly went white.

"_One who knows nothing can understand nothing._"

As the light faded, they found that the island was a bit more broken than usual, more resembling something from the world of darkness they had already been in. The leaves of the tree had started to turn purple on the ends, the ground at the end of the beach had broken, so it was now on purple rock. The ground at the end was even in pieces. And on one of the pieces, Riku stood wearing his darkness outfit.

The four ran down the beach and stood at the cracked land, ready to fight as Riku talked in Ansem's voice.

"Take a look at this tiny place," he said. "To the heart seeking freedom, this island is a prison... surrounded by water."

"And so this boy," he continued, spreading out his arms and looking up. "Sought out to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds. And he opened his heart to darkness."

He turned to look at them as darkness surrounded him, transforming his Riku body back into Ansem's, who smiled at them.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, reaching out for his friend, who wasn't there anymore.

"It's not him," Vanitas said, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder sympathetically.

"Don't bother," Ansem told Sora. "You voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness."

He gestured with his arm at that. As the man said his next words, Vanitas grabbed his head, seeing a vision of a younger, deeper voiced Xehanort saying the same words.

"All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it. It grows, consumes it."

"In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came," Ansem's voice suddenly announced behind them.

The four backed up from the man, staying in their fighting stances.

"You see," Ansem said, gesturing with his arm. "Darkness is the heart's true essence."

"That's not true!" Sora exclaimed. "The heart may be weak. And sometimes, it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light never goes out!"

He gestured with his arm at that.

"And he helped me re learn that," Vanitas remarked. "Even when I thought there was no way for me to know it again."

The two nodded at each other, reaffirming their friendship. At that, Ansem rose in the air and faced the four with his arms crossed.

"So you have come this far," he said. "And still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

Darkness flared behind Ansem, and a shadowy minion that Vanitas swore he had seen before appeared.

The four charged Ansem, just as the minion threw circular surges of energy at them. One hit Goofy, but they continued their pursuit as Ansem hovered away. Ansem laughed in an evil way as he made his minion repeat this action twice. Goofy managed to get in an attack with his shield, and Donald blasted the man with Firaga and Thundaga. Vanitas attacked Ansem with his axe, while Sora used extended combo attacks with his Keyblade.

"Come, guardian," Ansem said, at which the minion appeared in front of him and held up its arms in defense.

Sora and Vanitas just went behind the man and attacked him from behind. Vanitas shook off the sex joke in his head as he swung his axe at the man who caused him so much trouble. The minion then appeared back behind Ansem, and they floated away. The minion launched more circular bits of energy, which Sora deflected back at Ansem with a block.

Vanitas replaced his axe with his sledgehammer and used it to beat down Ansem a bit. Ansem tried using his minion to block him again, but he quickly nixed that when he got attacked from behind again. They continued to attack Ansem, despite the minion trying to slash at them violently from underneath its master's feet. Vanitas smacked Ansem with his sledgehammer, Sora continued to use aerial combos, and Donald continued to use spells while also swinging his staff as a weapon, and Goofy smacked the man with his shield.

The last time they attacked the man from behind while the minion tried blocking him, Ansem exclaimed angrily, and had the minion attack them from below his feet once again. He then floated back a bit, and his minion gestured its arms as it roared out.

"Such insolence," Ansem exclaimed. "Submit!"

The minion flew forwards and started to swing its fists. The only one it hit was Donald, who had cast Aeroga on himself, anyway. The minion transformed into a small purple orb, which turned into a purple cloud that surrounded Donald. This gave the others the opening they needed to attack Ansem, even as he surrounded himself in a purple and yellow caged barrier.

Once that was over, Sora tried ending the battle by using Strike Raid to throw his Keyblade at Ansem repeatedly, but the minion knocked it aside with its darkness covered hand before the last attack could hit him. Luckily, Vanitas caught the Keyblade in the air with his free hand, and threw it through Ansem, finishing the fight as the Keyblade flew back into Sora's hand.

In response, Ansem floated back towards the giant tree. The four chased after him and watched in shock as the island shook, opening up the tree and desecrating the land even more. When it was all over, the land now had a purple, circular chamber in the middle, which Ansem and his minion were floating in the middle of.

"Let's finish off this motherfucker," Vanitas said, taking out a Mega-Potion.

"Yeah!" Donald agreed, pulling out a Mega-Ether.

The other two agreed while Donald and Vanitas healed them all and replenished their magics with the Potions and Ethers. They then restocked their immediate supplies of Potions and Ethers, and ran towards the entrance to the chamber. Sora and Vanitas leaped in, but a barrier blocked off Donald and Goofy as they tried jumping in as well.

The ground suddenly shook as a Darkside appeared in front of Sora and Vanitas.

"This fucker just doesn't learn his lesson, does he?" Vanitas asked, pulling out his Mossberg.

"I don't think he does," Sora agreed, summoning his Keyblade and getting in a battle stance.

They jumped out of the way as the Darkside punched its fist into the ground. Sora did rapid attacks on the free hand and the head as the Darkside pulled out a large orb of darkness. Vanitas blasted the head while it was still close enough with three of his remaining shells. They managed to keep up the attack until the Darkside held the orb of darkness with both hands and raised it to the air, releasing it.

While the two dodged smaller orbs of darkness that fell to the ground, the Darkside gestured its fist towards the ground, pulled back, and punched the ground, causing a small portal to appear for Shadows to pop out. Sora and Vanitas ignored them and climbed up the arm. Sora did more wicked combos on the head, while Vanitas did another blast with his shotgun. Sora then used a small attack that finished with Ragnarok, just as the Darkside picked its fist back up.

Sora then took out the Shadows while the Darkside expelled smaller, heat (heart?) seeking orbs that flew after him and Sora. Vanitas blocked one by picking up a Shadow and holding it in place, so the orb took out the Shadow. He then replaced his Mossberg with his Beretta, for more long range, and took a few shots at the Darkside's head. The two of them had to block again, while the Darkside punched into the ground again, and Sora finished it off with a combo attack to the head.

The two moved to the side as the Darkside disappeared. An orb of darkness appeared above the ground, which Ansem dispersed from with his minion.

"Round two, chicken shit!" Vanitas yelled, pointing his Beretta at Ansem.

The two moved out of the way as the minion tried attacking them from underneath Ansem's feet. He jumped up and attacked Ansem with a combo before running to the side, as the minion had started blocking Ansem. Vanitas had moved in a way that he was behind, and a good amount of feet away from the man. Vanitas then shot his gun at the man a good enough distance away, and emptied his clip.

The minion then faced Sora and threw lightning at them from its hands, which Vanitas swore he had seen before. He tried this two more times, and Sora attacked Ansem with wicked combos again, while Vanitas reloaded put a fresh clip in his gun and put it back in its holster. They blocked another "Submit!" attack, and charged at Ansem. Vanitas hit the man with his baseball bat, while Sora kept up the combo attacks. Ansem tried using the minion to block him twice, and both times, the two attacked him from behind.

Ansem and his minion suddenly charged forwards covered in blue energy, turning multiple times as they charged at the two teens. Sora blocked one, which stopped the charging. They kept up the attack, just as more energy surrounded Ansem.

"My strength returns," he said, as he floated to the center of the room.

The minion flew up into the air, and disappeared, and both Sora and Vanitas knew they needed to start running. The two of them started running around the area, as circles of darkness appeared in the ground that the minion flew up within. Vanitas swore he had seen this before as well as they continued to run out of the circles and out of danger, while Ansem just cockily exclaimed that he was winning. They continued to run just as Ansem used his powers to send out energy in four different directions, which the two of them dodged.

Ansem did another "Submit!" attack, which hit Sora this time. The energy surrounded Sora, while Vanitas whaled on the man with his baseball bat. Out of the corner of Vanitas' eye, he was able to see that the minion was grabbing at Sora, keeping him from attacking, which, again, Vanitas swore he had seen before. Once that ended, energy appeared behind Ansem, en which the minion reappeared. Sora kept up the combo attacks, as Vanitas continued to hit the man with his bat.

Ansem tried rushing forwards again, but Sora blocked it, and they were able to back Ansem into a corner with their attacks again. After enough attacks, Ansem floated to the center once again, energy surrounding him. Once again, they ran around the area as circles appeared where they stood, which the minion flew out of, once again trying to attack, but missing as they continued to run. After running for a good amount of time, once again, Ansem released energy in four different directions, which they dodged.

Ansem tried doing another "Submit!" attack, which the two dodged, and they both backed him into a corner with their attacks again. He tried to do it one more time, and this time it hit Vanitas.

"Fuck it!" Vanitas exclaimed, as the minion held him in place. "Finish off this asshole!"

Sora complied, and used the attack that finished with Ragnarok to finish off Ansem. Then all of a sudden, light quickly took up both of their visions, followed quickly by darkness.

Sora and Vanitas stood somewhere with Donald and Goofy somewhere where they were surrounded by black and grey clouds somewhere in the distance. The four looked around, trying to get a figure of their surroundings, as their visions were blurry at the moment.

"Wha...?" Sora asked.

"The fuck?" Vanitas finished for him.

"Behold the endless abyss!" Ansem's voice announced from somewhere. "Within it lies the heart of all worlds!"

The four suddenly saw a giant set of white, ornate double doors somewhere in the distance, atop of a grey floor, and surrounded by gathering grey smoke.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Ansem continued.

"Kingdom Hearts?" Vanitas asked, remembering the name. And not from having just read it about an hour ago.

"Look as hard as you are able," Ansem continued, wherever he was. "You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light. From those dark depths, are all hearts born... Even yours."

Sora looked down and gasped.

"Holy shit!" Vanitas exclaimed.

Donald and Goofy agreed without saying it. In front of them was a veritable ship of darkness. The front held a monster head that wasn't living, along with what looked like lion heads on some of the lower parts. Within the dome like chamber on the main part held a jelly like substance with a jack o lantern like face on it. Atop the dome floated Ansem. He was much larger than before, shirtless, and wearing grey and yellow pants. Cables extended from his back, leading to his new minion, which had been upgraded drastically to look actually pretty scary. In Ansem's hand was a handle that, on each side, held a blade that was similar to Riku's sword.

"Darkness conquers all worlds!" Ansem exclaimed as they observed the ship in shock.

Suddenly, gravity took hold and Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy started falling. Red, blue, and green energy appeared in front of the dome, which pulled a screaming Donald and Goofy inside.

"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed as he and Vanitas fell past the lower parts of the ship. Time slowed down for the two as they fell.

"_Giving up already?_" Sora heard Riku's voice in his head. "_Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that._"

Vanitas, meanwhile, heard an older man's voice in his head.

"_You must never give up the fight against the darkness. As long as you keep at it, eventually, you will win, Vanitas._"

After the two fell through the clouds, they then flew back up through them, covered in pixie dust once again. Sora summoned his Keyblade, and Vanitas pulled out his shotgun again. A shield appeared in the dome, but that wasn't their main focus at the moment.

The two of them flew up to the larger Ansem, and Sora used combo attacks on the larger gentleman, while Vanitas didn't hesitate to use his remaining shells on the man. Vanitas replaced his shotgun with his katana, and joined Sora in attacking Ansem as they either blocked or deflected his sword slashes. But they did have to move to the side as purple orbs started showing up and shooting lasers at them.

The first part was easy enough. The two of them attacked Ansem with their weapons while dodging or deflecting the attacks. These mostly consisted of the slashes with his sword, and the lasers, and even Shadow like bats. They attacked for a good long while before they managed to knock down Ansem pretty well. The man dismissed his weapon, rested down into a port on the being, and the heartless insignia covered him. Red, blue, and green energy appeared where the dome started, and the two flew inside.

Unfortunately, this didn't lead them to their friends. Just a room with the heartless insignia on the floor filled with Shadows. The two of them quickly took out all of the Shadows, which caused the heartless sigil to disappear, and a small orb showed on a wall, held by a strap. Vanitas used half of one of his remaining clips into the orb, destroying it, flaring a large light.

The two flew out of the energy, which then turned blue, black, and grey. All of a sudden, large, blue spores appeared on the ship, and started shooting out lasers.

"We should take those out," Sora suggested. "It should do something."

"Let's hope," Vanitas agreed.

It did. After Vanitas and Sora slashed them to pieces with their weapons, the energy turned back to red, green, and blue, which they flew inside. This time, they were reunited with Goofy, but were surrounded by Darkballs.

The three of them took out all of the Darkballs with a bit of difficulty, causing the sigil to disappear from the floor, and another orb appeared on the wall. Like before, Vanitas emptied a clip into it, destroying it. At this, the three of them flew out of the energy once again.

"Down to my last clip!" Vanitas exclaimed, sliding it into his Beretta.

"Let's hope you don't need it too much," Goofy exclaimed.

Just as Vanitas put away the gun, Vanitas pulled out his BO staff, at which the face at the front of the ship suddenly came to life.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sora asked, as his friends groaned in agreement.

The three of them went at the head with their attacks, not letting up, even as they got hit by the head biting them, thunder flashing and hitting them, and more of the spores appearing and shooting lasers at them. Vanitas and Sora did make sure to heal themselves during this, though, so they never took everlasting damage. They managed to beat down the head enough to stun it with its mouth open, with red, blue, and green energy inside.

They flew in through the energy, and found themselves in another room, this time with Donald joining them as they were surrounded by Invisibles. After the four of them did a good amount of fighting with a little bit of struggle. Once they were all gone, the sigil disappeared once again, and the orb was on the wall. Vanitas emptied his clip, destroying it. They flew outside of the monster head, which then blew up.

"And I'm out of ammo," Vanitas said, putting his handgun in the holster.

All of a sudden, the shield in the dome disappeared. So, they went to the jelly like thing with the face, figured it was important, and destroyed it with their attacks. With that, the heartless insignia disappeared from above Ansem. He floated out, and re-summoned his weapon, standing ready for an attack.

The four of them flew up to Ansem, and started attacking him while deflecting the sword strikes and dodging lasers. Like before with just Sora and Vanitas, the fight was easy enough. At least, until Ansem decided to have a black hole appear. He pointed his sword in front of him, and it appeared in the clouds across from him. It started sucking the four towards it, and they had to fly as hard as they could to keep from being sucked in, each of them knowing the bad parts of a black hole. Then after a good while, the black hole exploded in a large fiery blast.

Then, black energy appeared in the minion's mouth, and the mouths on the shoulder pads, which then caused them to slowly grow weaker. So, Vanitas grew desperate and threw up a Megalixer, replenishing all of their health and magic expanses. Ansem then used a spell to rush the four of them back through the air. They flew towards Ansem.

"Now show me what your precious light can do," Ansem remarked.

"Sora!" Donald yelled, as Sora landed on a small place right underneath Ansem.

"Come on!" he yelled.

"Don't give up!" Goofy yelled.

"Let's do this!" Vanitas yelled, knowing what they were planning.

The four of them gathered together, and they all saw the good moments they had had over the course of this journey, all of them happy. Even the parts from the beginning where Vanitas wasn't as happy. They all dispersed energy, and Sora held up his Keyblade, where the energy gathered for their ultimate attack, Unity Limit. The energy appeared over Sora, as markings appeared around him on the ground. He jumped up in a backflip and stabbed the Keyblade into the ground, and the shared energy of the four of them gathered together in an attack to finish off Ansem. The four of them flew away as Ansem uttered "It can't be..."

Explosions suddenly appeared all around the ship, which caused fire to surround the minion. Ansem's weapon fell out of his hand, and energy appeared from his chest, which expelled out, covering the entire ship. The light flared, and then exploded in fire. The fire dispersed into red and orange light, that then disappeared, like there was nothing there.

The four friends floated across from a writhing Ansem, not too far from Kingdom Hearts.

"It is futile," Ansem weakly told them. "The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness."

He turned towards the doors and held out his hand.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Ansem exclaimed. "Fill me with the power of darkness..."

The double doors opened and started dispelling darkness.

"Supreme darkness..." Ansem tried continuing.

"You're wrong," Sora told him. "I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts..."

"Is light!"

"Fuck, yeah!" Vanitas yelled out in agreement.

The darkness dispersing from the doors then turned into light, and Ansem exclaimed in pain. He continued to exclaim as he watched the light continue to disperse.

"Light..." he groaned out. "But why..."

New light surrounded Ansem, along with blue shards. Light then dispersed from the man, engulfing him completely before it disappeared, and he was gone.

"Enjoy hell, you son of a bitch," Vanitas told the empty air where Ansem used to be.

The four of them landed on the ground and ran to the doors.

"Come on!" Sora exclaimed as he and Vanitas started trying to push the door closed.

Donald and Goofy tried pushing the other one. Unfortunately, the doors barely budged.

"What the fuck!" Vanitas exclaimed.

"If there was ever a time for your super strength to show up," Sora remarked. "Now would be the time."

"You got that right!" Vanitas exclaimed, as he tried to kick the door, to no avail.

He suddenly paused, feeling frustration nearby. And he gasped, knowing that someone nearby was in trouble.

"Vanitas!" Donald yelled.

"What're you doing?" Goofy yelled, trying to get his attention.

Vanitas just stared forwards a bit more, sensing two people he knew nearby. And one of them was the one in distress.

"Aqua...?" he whispered.

Goofy then looked inside the doors and exclaimed in surprise.

"Stop staring and keep pushing!" Donald yelled, looking up at Goofy in annoyance.

He then followed Goofy's gaze and looked inside the doors, exclaiming in surprise.

"The heartless!?" the two screamed as they looked at the hordes of shadows within.

"Hurry!" Donald exclaimed.

"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed, going back to pushing the door after he saw some of the heartless.

"I can't..." Sora said, looking down.

"Don't give up!" a familiar voice said from the other side of the door as it grabbed one of the doors.

Sora looked up in surprise.

"Come on, Sora!" Riku told him. "Together, we can do it!"

"Okay!" Sora said, nodding his head.

"Once things settle down," Vanitas told Riku. "I'm punching you in the arm!"

"That's fair," Riku admitted.

Riku tried pulling the door that Sora and Vanitas were pushing, while Donald and Goofy continued trying to push the other door. They still wouldn't budge, and two Darksides had just appeared not far behind Riku.

"It's hopeless!" Donald exclaimed, putting his hands on either side of his head.

All of a sudden, the Darksides were destroyed, and light started to gather. Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy watched in awe as a mouse the height of a short human wearing shorts jumped into view with his back to them.

"Your Majesty!" Donald and Goofy yelled.

"Mickey!" Vanitas yelled, hopeful, and a little happy.

Mickey then pulled out a Kingdom Key that was the reverse color scheme of Sora's and held it up.

"Now, Sora!" he yelled. "Let's close this door for good!"

"Close it, quick!" Donald exclaimed.

"But..." Sora started to say.

"Don't worry," Mickey said, looking over his shoulder towards them. "There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora," Goofy told him. "You can trust King Mickey."

"Now!" Riku yelled as he backed away from the doors. "They're coming!"

"Donald, Goofy," Mickey said, looking over his shoulder once again. "Thank you. And Vanitas, nice to finally see you again. I'll fill you in once we see each other again."

"You got it, buddy," Vanitas whispered, even though he wasn't sure if his friends could hear him or not.

The four of them started pushing the doors, and now they were starting to budge. As they were pushing the doors, Riku looked towards Sora.

"Take care of her," he told his friend.

Sora stopped and nodded his head before they resumed pushing. The doors closed, and a white light appeared from the outline of the doors.

Sora jumped back and held up his Keyblade. Stars appeared and flew into the tip. And unbeknownst to them, Mickey did the same thing, en which stars flew into the tip. At that, the four of them watched as blue and yellow light flew up the doors. And after a few seconds, the entire door was encased in light. The light flashed brightly, and the doors disappeared, revealing the remaining path from where they were standing.

"We did it," Vanitas simply said as the four of them looked up at where the doors used to be.

He looked back to his younger lookalike, who was looking up in thought.

"We'll find him," Vanitas assured him. "I promise."

Sora nodded his head at his friend, and realized something. He turned around, surprised to see Kairi standing at the edge of the white platform, confused about where she was. Without hesitation, he ran towards her.

Donald started to follow Sora, but Vanitas and Goofy held him back.

"Let him go," Vanitas told the duck. The three of them looked towards Sora running towards the girl sadly. "It's gonna be a long while before they get to see each other again."

They just stood there and watched as Sora ran towards Kairi, while light gathered behind the three of them, and eventually engulfed them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to rename Trinity Limit, as there is four of them instead of three


	33. Unity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four face the aftermath of the battle, Vanitas has another vision, and then he finally gives in.

Sometime later, the four of them were walking down a brownish road, with large grassy fields on either side of them, a clear blue sky above them with lots of clouds, and lots and lots of large trees within the actual field.

They walked down the road with Sora resting his hands on the back of his head. Donald had replaced his adventure outfit with a simple blue outfit complete with a bowtie and a sailor's hat. Goofy had replaced his adventure outfit with simple clothes, including an orange shirt and yellow vest, and simple two hats. And Vanitas had replaced his SHIELD outfit with a simple red and black shirt with the Fall Out Boy logo volcano underneath a black motorcycle jacket that wasn't leather. He wore plain blue jeans, and carried his sling in his left arm.

"Well, now what do we do?" Donald asked, looking up at Sora.

"We've gotta find Riku and King Mickey," Sora simply said.

"It should be easy after we figure out where to look," Vanitas remarked.

"But, uh," Goofy said. "Where do we start looking for that there door to the light?"

They stopped, now realizing they didn't know. They all sighed out as they bent forwards, upset.

Vanitas then gripped his head as he saw another vision. Two men in similar black coats were together on a dark beach.

"You have arrived," the taller man leaning on the rock said to the shorter man walking towards him. "I've been to see him."

Vanitas then saw a blurry vision of the same man in that chamber of Hollow Bastion, where they had fought.

"He looks a lot like you," the taller man remarked to the shorter man.

And Vanitas saw a blurry vision of the defiant face Sora had made before they had started fighting the man.

"Who are you?" the shorter man asked, in a pretty young sounding voice.

It was then that Vanitas knew this was Roxas.

"I'm what's left," the man told him. He then looked at the water. "Or, maybe I'm all there ever was."

"I meant your name," Roxas said.

"My name is of no importance," the man said. He then looked at Roxas. "What about you? Do you remember your true name?"

"My true name is..." Roxas started to say.

Vanitas was pulled out of his vision when Sora exclaimed in confusion, as the other two did. A tan dog carrying a letter in his mouth walked across the road in front of them. Sora and Vanitas recognized it as the dog that woke them up back in Traverse Town.

"Pluto?" Donald asked.

"You guys know this dog?" Sora asked, looking at Donald.

"Hey, Pluto," Goofy said, gesturing with his arm. "Where have you been?"

Sora exclaimed at what was in Pluto's mouth. It was a letter with an imprint similar to Mickey's head on it.

"Gawrsh," Goofy exclaimed. "That's the king's seal!"

"Hey," Sora said, reaching towards Pluto. "Have you seen King Mickey?"

Pluto started running down the road, and they knew that he was trying to lead them. Donald and Goofy laughed at each other.

"You up for this, Vanitas?" Sora asked his friend with a smile on his face.

"All the way," Vanitas said, nodding his head. "Oh, and... you guys can call me V."

He smiled as his friends smiled at him. Sora ran forwards a bit and held out his hand to them.

"Guys, let's go!" he said as waved his arm forwards.

The four of them started running after Pluto as he led them down the road. Goofy laughed out happily.

"A-hyuck!" he called out.

"Oh, boy!" Donald called out.

"Fuck out!" Vanitas yelled happily.

Sora smiled to the side and laughed as they ran, ready for the next adventure.

"_Remember_,_ Sora,_" the voice said. "_You are the one who will open the door to the light._"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And like that, we're done with another part. I just know I probably would have gotten it done quicker if I didn't have the break where they went to help the Avengers, but I really wanted to do that, so I have no regrets. For those of you that were expecting it, sorry that you were wrong about Vanitas getting his life force back by the end of this. That won't be happening for a good, long, while, as I couldn't think of a plausible way for it to happen at this point in time. Luckily, there is a moment in a later game that gives the opportunity. You can try guessing, but I won't say anything until we get there. Next up in this series will be Memories, which I do have an idea on how to cover the weird combat system. But unfortunately, the next crossover with the MCU won't be until after it, but it's the only way for the timeline I'm building to work. I hate it, too, honestly. And don't worry, Vanitas won't be as secretive with the stuff he's been seeing in his visions as he was in BBS. I am aware of how much that wasn't fun. But anyway, I need to take a rest. I've been doing these chapters all day!


End file.
